UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


(  VI  K'l'   (  )K 


&• 


Chss  No. 


VINDICATION 


OF 


The  True  God 


AGAINST 


The  God  of  Moses. 


BY 

GEORGE  E.  KING. 


SAN   FRANCISCO. 
PUBLISHED  BY  THE  AUTHOR. 

1895- 


VINDICATION 


OF 


he       rue  God 


AGAINST 


The  God  of  Moses. 


BY 

GEORGE  E.  KING. 


SAN    FRANCISCO. 

PUBLISHED   BY  THE   AUTHOR. 

1895. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  tnc  year  1894,  by  George  E.  King, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Chap.      I.  The  True  God 3 

II.  The  God  of  Moses  and  the 

Christians 19 

"      III.  The  Scheme  of  Moses    32 

' '      IV.  Moses  at  Mt.  Sinai .  45 

V.  How  the  Scheme  Resulted. ...  54 

"       VI.  Jesus  of  Nazareth 63 

"     VII.  Origin  of  the  Devil,  Hell,  and 

the  Scheme  of  Redemption..    91 

"  VIII.  The  Church  in  Operation Ill 

"      IX.  Moses  and  His  Traditions 124 

"        X.  Origin  of  the  God  of  Moses  ....  143 

"      XL  The  Motive  of  Moses 1GO 

' '    XII.  Religion  and  Worship 181 


INTRODUCTION. 


"  FORASMUCH  as  many  have  taken  in  hand  to 
set  forth  in  order"  a  large  number  of  miracles, 
which  are  alleged  to  have  occurred  during  the 
last  thirty-five  or  forty  centuries,  and  which  are 
more  or  less  believed,  "it  has  seemed  good  to 
me  also/'  being  an  old  man,  to  examine  carefully 
the  evidence  on  which  those  allegations  are 
founded,  with  no  other  possible  desire  but  to  get 
at  the  TRUTH,  and  "  to  write  unto  thee,  Most 
Excellent"  Public,  the  result  of  my  investigation, 
"in  order  that  thou  mightest  know,"  to  a  cer- 
tainty, whether  to  believe  them  or  not. 

G.  E.  K. 


VINDICATION  OF  THE  TRUE  GOD 

AGAINST 

THE  GOD  OF  MOSES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    TRUE    GOD. 

THERE  is  a  God,  and  "that  there  is,  all  Nature 
cries  aloud  through  all  her  works."  Everything 
in  the  universe  shows  design  as  clearly  as  the  watch, 
the  steam  engine,  or  any  other  machine  made 
by  man.  The  whole  animal  kingdom,  including 
man,  is  but  diversified  machinery,  most  cunningly 
designed  and  most  wonderfully  constructed.  It 
matters  not  whether  these  machines  were  made  at 
once  and  complete  by  a  single  fiat  of  Almighty 
Power,  or  whether  they  have  been  gradually 
evolved  from  infinitesimal  atoms  or  drops  of  pro- 
toplasm through  a  long  series  of  ages.  Each  and 
every  one  of  those  original  atoms  must  have  been 
created,  and  each  must  have  followed  the  original 
impulse  of  its  creator  until  his  original  design  was 


4  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

accomplished.  The  design  is  still  there,  quite 
manifest.  This  clearly  proves  the  existence  of  a 
designer,  a  great  first  cause  ;  and  it  is  of  no  con- 
sequence what  name  we  give  it,  whether  Jehovah, 
Theos,  Jupiter,  or  God.  It  all  amounts  to  the 
same  thing.  The  fact  of  his  existence  is  estab- 
lished. 

As  to  the  form,  mode  or  manner  of  his  exist- 
ence, or  of  what  or  how  composed,  it  is  utterly 
impossible  for  us  to  know  anything  whatever.  In 
this  respect,  notwithstanding  all  that  has  been 
said  and  written  on  the  subject,  he  always  has  and 
still  does  keep  himself  most  effectually  and  wholly 
hidden  and  concealed.  In  that  beautiful  poem 
of  Job  it  is  averred,  a  Touching  the  Almighty 
we  cannot  find  him  out.'*  And  in  another  place 
the  question  is  asked  in  a  way  that  furnishes  its 
own  answer,  "  Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out 
God  ?  Canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty  to  per- 
fection ?  "  The  fact  is  as  true  now  as  when  that 
poem  was  written.  We  cannot  find  out  the 
Almighty  to  perfection.  The  most  we  can  do  is 
only  to  reason  on  the  subject,  and  this  is  what  I 
now  propose  to  do. 

It  is  generally  assumed  and  conceded  that  God 
is  a  spirit,  something  intangible  and  unseeable  by 
human  senses;  and  this  seems  to  be  the  most 
rational  and  plausible  conclusion  we  can  think 
of.  It  may  be  difficult  for  the  human  mind  to 


AGAINST   THK    GOD    OF   MOSKS.  5 

have  any  definite  conception  as  to  what  a  spirit 
is;  an  entity  wholly  devoid  of  materiality.  We 
are  somewhat  familiar,  however,  with  the  great 
powers  of  Nature,  which,  so  far  as  we  yet  know, 
have  of  themselves  no  materiality.  Such  are  light , 
heat  and  electricity.  We  know  considerable  about 
them  and  of  their  power,  but  what  we  know  may 
be  only  as  an  alphabet  or  first  rudiments  as  com- 
pared with  the  great  book  that  remains  to  be 
written  about  them.  But  the  mind  may  now  use 
them  as  a  ladder  to  climb  up  to  some  faint  idea  or 
conception  of  that  all-creating  and  all-controlling 
spirit  that  we  call  God.  It  may  not  be  absurd 
to  suppose  even  that  he,  in  fact,  has  a  material 
body,  composed  of  the  most  highly  refined  essence 
of  matter,  still  more  subtle  than  light,  heat  or 
electricity  ;  or  even  that  these  very  powers  them- 
selves are  integral  and  component  parts  of  himself. 

And  it  is  possible  that  myriads  of  other  spirit- 
ual beings,  infinitely  inferior  and  of  different 
grades,  may  exist.  Nor  is  it  impossible  that  the 
souls  of  men,  after  they  leave  the  body,  may  be- 
come just  such  or  similar  beings. 

As  a  necessary  consequence  and  result  of  his 
existence,  this  Great  Being  must  have  something 
corresponding  to  the  idea  of  dimension,  at  least, 
as'to  extent;  for  he  must  be  everywhere  present 
at  one  and  the  same  time.  Let  us  consider  this. 
Take  the  most  powerful  telescope,  turn  it  to  the 


6  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

north,  and  view  the  most  distant  region  of  stars 
within  its  scope,  then  turn  it  gradually  through 
all  the  points  of  the  compass,  and  do  the  same  until 
you  come  to  the  point  of  beginning.  You  have 
compassed  a  most  inconceivably  vast  space  ;  a 
space  so  vast  that  light,  which  travels  12,000,000 
of  miles  a  minute,  would  require  many  years  to 
cross  it;  and  yet  you  have  not  discovered  the  lim- 
its of  creation,  but  on  the  contrary  at  every  point 
you  have  seen  convincing  proof  that  there  is  much 
more  beyond.  And  yet  God  must  be  at  one  and 
the  same  time  at  each  and  every  point  in  this  vast 
space,  constantly  and  continually  present  as  really 
as  he  is  here  with  us.  He  must  pervade  and 
permeate  every  point  and  particle  in  this  vast  do- 
minion. Who  can  comprehend,  what  mind  can 
conceive,  any  adequate  idea  of  a  being  of  sue  him- 
mensity  ?  Is  this  the  God  which  Moses  says  he 
saw  from  a  cleft  in  a  rock  ? 

But  consider  his  power.  He  it  is  who  upholds, 
governs  and  controls  the  millions  upon  millions 
of  stars  in  the  universe,  whirling  with  inconceiva- 
ble velocity  through  space,  and  yet  so  as  not  to 
interfere  with  each  other.  He  has  implanted  in 
matter  the  property  or  quality  of  attraction  by 
which  he  counterbalances  world  with  world,  and 
system  with  system,  holding  every  one  in  its 
proper  place  and  all  in  harmonious  action.  And 
what  are  those  shining  spots  called  stars?  Are 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  7 

they  mere  toys,  childish  playthings,  glittering 
jewels,  as  Moses  supposed  they  were,  set  in  a 
solid  firmament?  What  strange  notions  have 
been  entertained  in  regard  to  them.  Even  the 
great  and  so-called  inspired  Evangelist  evidently 
regarded  them  as  insignificant  trifles  as  compared 
with  this  world  ;  that  a  good  wind  might  shake 
them  all  down  upon  the  earth  as  the  untimely 
fruit  of  a  fig  tree,  (Rev.  vi :  13)  implying  that 
they  might  all  be  gathered  in  a  few  heaps  in  a 
farmer's  orchard.  An  idea  infinitclessly  less 
worthy  of  the  subject  and  by  far  less  poetical 
than  that  of  some  genius  who  described  them 
as  "gimlet  holes  to  let  glory  through."  Until 
quite  recent  times  the  earth  has  been  considered. 
;is  the  only  body  of  matter  in  the  universe  that 
was  of  much  consequence,  and  that  all  the  stars 
were  made  only  to  give  light  to  it,  and  for  man 
to  look  at  and  admire  as  he  would  jewels  or  fire- 
works. That  aside  from  this  they  were  useless 
motes  in  the  Ethereal  Blue — mere  tawdry  span- 
gles on  the  curtain  of  night.  What  horror  was 
aroused  in  the  religious  world  as  late  as  the  17th 
century,  when  astronomy  suggested  that  the  earth 
moved- — that  it  revolved  around  the  sun.  It 
seemed  to  upset  the  empire  of  God,  and  all  their 
long-cherished  doctrines  and  theories.  But  never- 
theless, science  established  the  fact. 

And  science  has  also  established  the  fact  that 


8  VINDICATION   OF   TH£   TRUE   GOD 

all  these  millions  of  stars  that  stud  the  heavens 
are  suns  like  our  sun — many  of  them  immensely 
larger,  and  all  emitting  original  light  and  heat. 
And  it  is  not  to  be  presumed  that  they  or  any  of 
them  are  useless  bodies,  mere  ornaments,  baubles 
without  design,  and  serving  no  purpose.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  only  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
each  one,  like  our  sun,  lias  a  system  of  planets 
revolving  around  it,  to  which  it  furnishes  its  ge- 
nial light  and  heafc.  Then  what  a  mighty  family 
of  planets  :  figures  could  hardly  express  the  num- 
ber. As  compared  with  them,  this  little  globule 
we  inhabit  is  less  than  the  point  of  a  cambric 
needle,  the  merest  atom.  And  can  it  be  supposed 
that  this  little  atom  is  the  only  one  in  God's  great 
universe  that  is  inhabited  by  intellectual  beings? 
On  the  contrary,  the  inference  is  incontestable, 
that  all  these  planets  are  inhabited  by  intellectual 
beings,  many  more  or  less  like  man,  some  perhaps 
inferior  and  some  perhaps  vastly  superior.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  suppose  that  all  are  created  just 
like  man  either,  with  like  or  even  similar  physical 
organizations  ;  or  even  that  all  require  air  and 
food  to  sustain  life  ;  or  that  any  certain  degree  of 
temperature  is  necessary.  It  is  within  the  power 
of  God  to  create  living  beings  with  bodies  and 
natures  adapted  to  the  planets  on  which  he  places 
them.  Then  what  a  — .  No  language  can  ex- 
press the  immensity  of  this  circle  of  intellectual 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OP   MOSKS.  9 

beings,  or  the  number  of  worlds  they  inhabit. 
What  shall  we  say,  then?  Is  this  the  only  world, 
and  man  the  only  being,  that  God  cares  for  or 
pays  any  particular  attention  to  ?  Well  may  we 
exclaim  with  the  sweet  singer  of  Israel,  who  was 
but  an  infant  in  knowledge  of  the  works  of  God, 
"  When  I  consider  thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy 
fingers,  the  moon  and  the  stars  which  thou  hast 
ordained,  what  is  man  that  thou  art  mindful  of 
him,  or  the  son  of  man  that  thou  visitest  him  ?  " 
What  would  David  have  thought  and  said,  if  he 
had  known  all  that  modern  science  has  since 
revealed  ?  Is  it  possible  that  this  God  lived 
over  thirty  years  on  this  little  speck  of  earth,  in  a 
human  body,  under  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  never 
intimated  anything  about  the  vast  extent  of  his 
dominion,  or  about  the  inhabitants  of  any  of  his 
other  worlds  ?  " 

But  let  us  contemplate  the  power  of  God  more 
minutely.  What  he  has  done  in  other  worlds  and 
other  systems  can  be  affirmed  only  as  deductions 
of  reason,  of  which  we  can  have  no  absolute 
knowledge.  But  let  us  see  what  he  has  done  for 
us5  and  we  may  presume  that  he  has  done  the 
same  or  something  like  in  all  other  worlds.  He 
has  generated  light  and  heat.  He  has  diversified 
our  little  planet  with  oceans,  lakes,  rivers,  moun- 
tains, hills  and  plains  ;  has  clothed  it  with  verdure 
and  adorned  it  with  flowers.  He  shapes  every 


1O  VINDICATION    OF    THE    TRUE   GOD 

tree  and  plant,  tints  the  blossoms  with  beauty, 
and  gives  them  their  pleasing  perfumes.  He 
grows  and  ripens  our  fruits  and  our  grains.  He 
takes  up  moisture  from  oceans,  lakes  and  rivers 
by  invisible  particles,  and  with  them  forms  clouds, 
and  by  his  winds  drives  them  out  to  refresh  and 
gladden  the  land.  He  has  probably  done  and  is 
doing  like  wonderful  things  in  millions  of  other 
worlds. 

He  has  devised  and  constructed  the  frame-work 
of  various  animals,  including  man  and  beasts, 
birds,  fishes,  reptiles,  and  insects  ;  provided  them 
with  pliable  joints,  bound  them  together  with 
cartilage  and  tendons,  and  clothed  them  with  flesh 
and  muscles  filled  with  fibers  and  nerves  ;  provided 
within  them  a  wonderful  complication  of  ma- 
chinery, well  supplied -with  self-made  chemicals 
for  the  reduction  and  assimilation  of  food,  and 
extracting  from  it  proper  nutrition,  and  clearing 
it  of  all  deleterious  properties.  Add  to  this  the 
respiratory  laboratory  for  vivifying  and  giving  it 
the  finishing  touch  to  prepare  it  to  become  flesh, 
to  supply  and  renew  every  part  of  the  ever-wast- 
ing body.  He  has  also  endowed  them  with  life 
and  the  power  of  locomotion,  and  above  all  has 
implanted  within  them  grades  of  intelligence  — 
mental  capacity  to  enable  them  to  look  out  for 
and  take  care  of  themselves.  He  has  placed  in  the 
head  of  man  a  vastly  superior  mechanism,  which 


AGAINST   THP4   GOD   OF   MOSES.  II 

enables  him  to  think  and  reason,  and  appreciate 
and  enjoy  intellectual  pleasures.  A  great  deal 
more  than  this  is  claimed  for  man.  It  is  a  favor- 
ite belief  with  many,  that  God  has  given  to  man 
an  immortal  soul  that  will  survive  the  body,  and 
live  independent  of  it,  to  all  eternity.  If  this  be 
so,  then  let  it  be  considered  as  among  his  mighti- 
est works,  and  his  crowning  glory. 

Let  us  also  consider  (as  Dr.  Watts  says)  "  the 
way  he  works,  his  wonders  to  perform."  The 
farmer  goes  to  his  field,  plows  it,  scatters  there  a 
quantity  of  dry  seeds,  and  buries  them  in  the 
earth.  After  awhile  he  goes  out  again  and  reaps 
a  harvest,  which  is  required  for  his  sustenance, 
without  thinking  of  the  wonderful  process  that 
has  been  gone  through  with  to  accomplish  such  a 
result.  If  we  should  visit  some  of  those  fields,  we 
might  find  growing  there  side  by  side  in  the  same 
soil  different  kinds  of  grain  ;  they  may  be  wheat, 
rye,  and  barley.  To  an  unpractrced  eye  they  are 
not  very  dissimilar  in  appearance.  The  spires  of 
wheat  select  and  draw  up  from  the  soil  the  mat- 
ter necessary  to  produce  wheat.  The  spires  of 
rye  draw  from  the  same  soil  appropriate  matter 
necessary  for  the  production  of  rye  ;  and  the  spires 
of  barley  draw  from  the  same  soil  and  select  and 
use  what  is  necessary  to  produce  barley.  Each 
forms  and  produces  its  own  peculiar  berry,  and 
neither  can  produce  what  either  of  the  others 
produces.  They  are  all  different  kinds  of  grain, 


VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

And  the  fruit  trees  close  by,  each  one  draws 
from  the  same  soil  the  material  with  which  it 
manufactures  its  own  peculiar  fruit  with  its  own 
peculiar  flavor  ;  and  the  rosebush  draws  from  the 
same  soil  the  material  with  which  it  forms  and 
paints  and  perfumes  its  blossoms  ;  while  the  poppy 
close  by,  in  the  same  way,  from  the  same  soil, 
produces  its  narcotic  drug.  Now  all  these  seem- 
ingly little  things,  considering  that  they  are  at  the 
same  time  being  done  not  only  all  over  this  planet, 
but  in  millions  of  other  worlds,  show  as  great 
skill,  ingenuity,  and  wisdom,  as  that  which  first 
created  the  heavens.  These  little  kernels  of  grain, 
these  delicious  fruits,  and  these  sweet  flowers 
which  adorn  our  hills  and  plains,  are  really  as 
wonderful  as  the  stars  which  adorn  the  heavens. 

Take  another  example:  Here  is  an  egg.  En- 
closed within  the  shell  is  a  yellow  ball  of  matter, 
surrounded  by  a  pellucid,  gelatinous  substance 
called  albumen.  -It  might  help  to  make  a  good 
breakfast,  but  we  will  not  use  it  for  that  purpose 
now,  but  put  it  in  an  incubator,  and  in  three  weeks 
a  living  being  inside  pecks  open  the  shell,  and 
hops  out  a  live,  perfectly  formed,  though  scantily 
fledged  chicken.  It  at  once  seems  as  familiar 
witht  he  world  as  if  it  had  long  lived  in  it :  walks 
about  looking  for,  selects,  picks  up  and  confidently 
swallows  such  things  and  only  such  things  as  are 
good  for  it  to  eat.  It  recognizes  water, — knows 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  13 

at  least  some  of  its  uses, — puts  its  little  bill  into 
it,  and  after  drawing  up  a  quantity  holds  its  head 
up  high  to  make  it  run  down  its  throat.  It  never 
saw  a  hen  or  had  any  other  earthly  teacher.  How 
did  it  know  what  was  good  for  it  to  cat?  That 
it  needed  water,  and  that  water  would  run  down 
instead  of  up  ?  When  it  has  enough  it  seeks  a 
warm  shelter,  and  there  nestles  and  sleeps  until  it 
either  wants  something  more  to  eat,  or  to  see  a 
little  more  of  the  world.  Whence  all  this  wisdom 
and  power,  but  from  God,  whose  creative,  life- 
giving  power  must  be  constantly  present,  and 
working  at  every  point  in  his  vast  universe. 

It  seems  to  be  the  almost  universal  plan  and 
method  of  the  Supreme  Being,  that  from  the  most 
infinitesimal,  small  beginnings,  and  by  gradual, 
sometimes  very  slow,  almost  imperceptible  but 
sure  progress,  development  and  evolution,  his 
great  designs  are  quietly  accomplished  and  brought 
to  perfection.  Hence  all  the  great  works  that  are 
constantly  going  on  within  us,  and  before  our 
eyes  and  all  around  us,  occasion  no  surprise,  at- 
tract but  little  attention,  and,  above  all,  do  not 
awaken  within  us  any  realizing  sense  of  the  mighty 
power  and  wisdom  required  and  being  constantly 
exercised  to  accomplish  such  results. 

In  this  connection  let  us  consider  the  origin  of 
man,  and  the  different  species  of  animate  nature. 
Until  quite  recently  the  theory  has  prevailed  that 


14  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

man   and  all  other  animals   were  created  in  full 
form,  about  as  we  now  find  them,  at  once,  by  a 
single  fiat  of  Almighty  Power.    This  theory,  how- 
ever, seems  now  to  be  yielding  to  the  far  more 
sensible  and  probable  one  elaborated  by  scientists, 
that  man  and  all  other  species  of  animals  have 
been  evolved  from  infinitesimal  by  small  begin- 
nings;described  as  primordial  atoms  of  protoplasm. 
Adopting  this  theory,  it  must  be  admitted  that  all 
these  primordial  atoms  were  created  by  God,  and 
that  if  he  made  one  such  atom  he  made  many,  for 
he  never  acts  by  piecemeal  but  by  multitudes.    It 
must  also  be  conceded  that  if  he  made  any  he 
probably  made  many  different  kinds,  and  many  of 
each    kind,  in  different   parts  of  his    dominions; 
that  each  kind  was  designed  and  intended  to  pro- 
duce a  distinct  and  peculiar  genus  or  species,  and 
that  each  one  has  followed  the  divine  creative  im- 
pulse originally  given  to  it  by  its  creator,  and  has 
carried  out  his  original  design.      Hence  it  is  not 
necessary  to  believe  that  man  has  evolved  through 
oysters,  tadpoles,  fishes,  reptiles  and    monkeys; 
but  on  the  contrary  we  may  assume  that  he  origi- 
nated   from  that    particular  and    peculiar    atom 
originally  created  and  specially  designed  by  God 
for  the  creation  of  man.     That  from  this  small 
beginning  he  has  passed  through  many  changes 
of  form  and  structure  adapted  to  the  peculiar  de- 
sign of  development ;  and  that  all  these  interme- 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  15 

diate  forms  and  structures  have  been  left  so  far 
behind,  and  are  so  totally  disintegrated  and  de- 
stroyed, that  not  a  fossil  remnant  can  be  found. 
Hence  all  search  for  the  fabulous  connecting  link 
must  fail.  The  fact  that  similar  organs  and  struct- 
ures exist  in  many  animals,  frame-works  of  bones 
and  bodies,  composed  of  ilesh  containing  muscles 
and  nerves,  having  similar  digestive  and  respira- 
tory apparatus,  and  that  similar  appearances  de- 
velop in  the  process  of  formation,  is  no  proof  that 
all  proceeded  from  atoms  of  protoplasm  that  were 
alike  and  the  same  in  every  particular;  that  all 
contained  the  same  ultimate  design,  and  received 

O      " 

identically  the  same  divine  impulse.  If  we  go  to 
a  machine  shop,  we  will  find  many  different  ma- 
chines containing  parts  that  are  common  to  all ; 
and  in  the  shop  of  a  carpenter  we  will  find  pieces 
of  lumber  ready  formed,  which  may  be  used  either 
in  building  a  steamboat,  a  cottage,  a  church  or  a 
palace.  The  only  fair  conclusion,  then,  is  that  the 
wise  creator  saw  that  similar  formations  and  ap- 
pearances would  answer  his  purpose  and  design, 
as  well  in  the  formation  and  development  of  man 
as  of  other  animals.  There  is  nothing  in  all  these 

o 

things  that  militates  against  the  supposition  that 
man  at  first  proceeded  and  was  developed  from  a 
distinct,  peculiar  and  higher  grade  of  atoms  than 
other  animals.  And  it  may  be  a  question  whether 
man  has  yet  entirely  fulfilled  his  destiny.  It  may 


1 6  VINDICATION    OF   THE   TRUK   GOD 

be  that  he  is  still  in  only  an  embryonic  or  inter- 
mediate state,  and  that  in  the  far  distant  future  a 
race  of  beings  evolved  from  man  may  arise  on 
this  planet  as  far  superior  to  the  present  race  as 
it  now  is  to  the  lowest  type  of  monkeys. 

This  mode  of  creating  animate  nature,  instead 
of  detracting  from  greatly  enhances  and  magni- 
fie,s  our  wonder  and  amazement  at  the  God-like 
cunning,  ingenuity,  inventive  power,  and  skill, 
and  his  wisdom  and  power  to  plan  and  devise 
ways  and  means  by  small  beginnings  to  accom- 
plish such  great  results. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  his  wisdom  is  coex- 
tensive and  commensurate  with  his  power  ;  and 
it  must  also  be  admitted  that  he  is  a  good  Being. 
Wherever  he  has  created  a  want  or  feeling,  he 
has  abundantly  provided  the  means  for  supplying 
and  gratifying  them.  He  has  supplied  delicious 
flavors  to  gratify  the  taste,  pleasant  perfumes  for 
the  sense  of  smell,  the  varied  voices  of  Nature, 
and  the  harmonies  and  melodies  of  music  to 
charm  the  ear,  and  millions  of  beauties  to  delight 
the  eye.  And  he  has  blessed  the  mind  with  the 
power  to  think  and  reason,  to  explore  the  fields 
of  science,  and  revel  among  the  mysteries  of  his 
creation. 

But  this  Great  Being,  great,  powerful,  wise, 
and  good  as  he  is,  must  himself  be  subject  to  law, 
— to  the  laws  of  his  own  being,  the  laws  of  his 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  IJ 

constitution,  the  laws  of  his  nature.  He  cannot 
change  his  nature,  or  act  beyond  or  outside,  and 
in  violation  of,  or  in  opposition  to,  or  inconsist- 
ent with,  its  laws. 

It  follows  then  that  he  must  be  immutable, — 
unchangeable.  As  he  cannot  change  himself,  no 
outside  power  or  influence  can  change  him,  or 
turn  or  vary  him  from  his  purpose  and  objects, 
or  influence  his  actions.  If  it  could,  it  might  up- 
set and  overturn  his  government.  Such  a  thing 
is  impossible.  Therefore,  "  he  is  the  same  yes- 
terday, today,  and  forever." 

It  also  follows  that  God  must  be  constantly  and 
continuously  active,  always  at  work.  It  is  the 
law  of  his  nature,  and  necessary  to  keep  his  cre- 
ation from  falling  into  chaos.  It  is  impossible 
that  he  should  ever  tire  or  need  rest,  or  that  he 
ever  did  rest  on  any  seventh  day,  or  any  day,  or 
at  any  time. 

It  is  also  obvious  that  all  created  things,  ani- 
mate and  inanimate,  are  subject  to  laws  implanted 
by  God  within  them,  inherent  and  interwoven 
with  their  natures. 

"  No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time, "nor  has 
he  ever  by  word,  or  any  human  language,  re- 
vealed or  directly  made  himself,  or  his  will,  or 
wishes  and  desires,  known  to  man.  In  all  these 
respects  he  ever  has  and  still  does  keep  himself 
most  effectually  concealed,  and  therefore  it  is  im- 


1 8  VINDICATION   OPA   THE   TRUK   GOD 

possible  to  find  him  out  to  perfection.  But  so  far 
as  reason  furnishes  any  light,  such  a  Being  as  I 
have  attempted  partially  to  describe  is  the  Being 
that  must  be  recognized  as  God,  the  great  Cre- 
ator and  Governor  of  the  Universe.  In  contem- 
plating such  a  Being,  we  may  appreciate  this  lan- 
guage :  "  If  thou  sinnest,  what  doest  thoti  against 
him?  Or,  if  thy  transgressions  be  multiplied, 
what  doest  thou  unto  him  ?  If  thou  be  right- 
eous, what  givest  thou  him,  or  what  receivest  he 
of  thy  hand  ?  " 

u  Thy  wickedness  may  hurt  a  man  as  thou  art, 
and  thy  righteousness  may  profit  the  Son  of 
Man."  The  necessary  inference  is,  that  neither 
the  sin  or  righteousness  of  man  can  in  the  least 
affect  God.  He  is  high  above  us,  and  far  out  of 
the  reach  of  our  influence. 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF  MOSES.  19 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  GOD  OF  MOSES  AND  THE  CHRISTIANS. 

Without  pretending  to  have  "  found  out  the 
Almighty  to  perfection,7'  I  have  thus  far  at- 
tempted to  suggest  and  draw  to  mind  some  of 
the  characteristics,  which  every  reasonable  being 
must  acknowledge  and  admit  to  be  true,  of  the 
One  only  living  and  True  God,  and  cannot  pos- 
sibly be  otherwise.  Now,  I  propose  to  show 
what  kind  of  a  being  mankind,  more  particularly 
Christians,  are  and  long  have  been  setting  up  and 
worshipping  as  God ;  contrast  him  with  the  true 
God,  and  show  that  their  mistaken  ideas  and 
notions  on  the  subject,  instead  of  doing  any  good, 
have  caused  more  trouble,  more  crime  and  suffer- 
ing in  the  world,  than  all  other  causes  combined. 

They  start  with  the  sound  doctrine  that  there  is 
but  One  only  living  and  True  God,  but  from  that 
point  immediately  run  off  into  a  wilderness  of 
gross  absurdities.  For,  at  the  next  step,  without 
the  slightest  ground  for  it  in  reason,  and  with 
nothing  to  support  it  but  the  declaration  of  one 
Moses,  they  arrogantly  assume  that  man  is  created 
in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  ;  and,  as  a  nec- 
essary corollary,  adopt  the  absurdity,  which  this 


20  VINDICATION   OF  THK   TRUK   GOD 

Moses  taught,  that  God  has  and  is  in  the  image 
and  likeness  of  man.  That  he  is  of  a  spiritual 
substance,  has  infinite  power,  and  considerable 
wisdom ;  but  has  the  same  form  and  all  the  other 
general  characteristics  of  man.  That  he  has  a 
private  residence,  called  heaven,  up  in  the  sky, 
where  lie  is  attended  by  hosts  of  spiritual  beings, 
called  angels,  who  perform  such  duties  and  serv- 
ices as  he  requires  of  them.  That  long  before 
the  time  of  Moses,  but  mucli  oftener  in  his  days, 
and  in  the  days  of  Joshua  and  the  so-called 
prophets,  he,  at  times,  has  left  his  celestial  man- 
sion, and  "  come  down  "  to  visit  the  leaders  of  a 
"  chosen  people/'  and  personally  consult  and  ad- 
vise with  them,  and  assist  them  to  carry  on  their 
wars  and  their  government.  That  the  Israelites 
were  his  favorite  people — his  chosen  people — his 
own  peculiar  people — and  he  was  their  own  God, 
uan  enemy  of  their  enemies,  and  an  adversar 
of  their  adversaries," — that  he  was  not  the  God 
of,  and  did  not  care  for,  any  other  people,  but 
would  gladly  assist  them  to  "  cut  off  and  destroy 
all  other  people  "  that  might  come  in  their  way, 
or  that  occupied  any  land  they  might  covet. 

That  in  the  process  of  time  he  became  a  father, 
by  the  birth  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth, — the  only  child 
he  ever  had,  and  who  was  very  dear  to  him.  But 
it  so  happened  that  many  of  his  "  chosen  people  " 
had  the  temerity  to  doubt  the  paternity  of  this 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF  MOSES.  21 

child,  and  then  he  indignantly  ceased  to  visit  them, 
and  transferred  his  affections  from  them  to  and 
fixed  them  upon  those  only,  whether  Jew  or  Gen- 
tile, who  would  believe  that  this  Jesus  was  in  fact 
his  true,  legitimate,  and  only  begotten  Son,  the 
true  Christ,  and  would  join  heart  and  hand  to  help 
him  build  up  a  kingdom  on  earth. 

On  searching  the  writings  of  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  the  believers  claimed  to  discover  that  it 
was  dear  as  light  that  this  Jesus  was  the  Son  of 
God  and  the  true  Christ;  that  he  was  alluded  to 
in  those  writings  ;  that  everything  about  him  was 
clearly  predicted,  and  that  it  was  all  contained  in, 
evolved  from,  and  was  the  legitimate  and  neces- 
sary outcome  and  fulfillment  of  the  Mosaic  dis- 
pensation. 

The  followers  of  Jesus,  believing  that  he  rose 
from  the  dead  and  ascended  bodily  into  heaven, 
soon  adopted  the  belief  which  the  Greeks  had 
taught  for  centuries,  that  the  soul  of  man  is  im- 
mortal, and  that  there  is  a  "future  estate''  of  re- 
wards and  punishments.  This  is  something,  how- 
ever, that  Moses  never  thought  of,  and  his  God 
did  not  think  to  mention  it  at  the  interview  on 
Mt.  Sinai,  or  anywhere  else.  Consequently,  there 
was  no  provision  made  for  it  in  the  Mosaic  dis- 
pensation. But  this  new  doctrine  made  it  neces- 
sary, in  the  opinion  of  the  Christians,  that  there 
should  be  a  great  personal  Devil  and  a  fearful 


22  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

Hell,  and  they  set  to  work  to  supply  them.  It  was 
indeed  a  great  work  to  be  performed,  without  any- 
thing whatever  either  in  reason,  or  fact,  or  plausi- 
ble tradition  to  found  them  on  or  make  them  out 
of.  But  the  Christians  were  quite  equal  to  the 
task,  as  will  hereafter  fully  appear. 

All  the  Christians  have  adopted  this  same  God 
of  Moses,  with  his  dear  Son,  as  their  God,  and  be- 
lieve that  all  the  stories  which  Moses,  Joshua, 
and  the  so-called  prophets  have  told  about  him, 
as  they  are  recorded  in  the  Old  Testament,  are 
true  to  the  letter,  perfectly  inerrant  and  infallible ; 
that  it  is  rank  heresy  and  a  damnable  sin  to  doubt 
it ;  and  their  system  of  religion  is  founded  wholly 
upon  that  belief  and  those  assumptions,  with  such 
additions  of  Hell  and  a  Devil  as  they  found  it 
necessary  to  make. 

It  is  interesting  to  contemplate  some  of  the 
characteristics  or  attributes  which  are  attributed 
to  this  man-God  of  Moses  and  the  Christians,  and 
we  cannot  fail  to  notice,  in  passing,  that  however 
noble  and  praise  worthy  they  may  be  in  a  God, 
they  were  never  considered  as  essential  to  the  good 
reputation  or  character  of  man. 

1st.  He  is  said  to  be  a  partial  God,  and  the 
fact  seems  to  be  most  clearly  proved,  if  the  record 
is  true.  For  it  represents  that  that  God  chose 
and  selected,  out  of  all  the  people  in  the  world, 
the  Israelites  to  be  his  chosen,  peculiar  people ; 


AGAINST  THE  GOD  OF  MOSES.  23 

announced  himself  as  their  God,  to  the  exclusion 
of  everybody  else  ;  declared  that  he  would  u  be  an 
enemy  of  their  enemies  and  an  adversary  of  their 
adversaries/'  and  promised  to  lead  them  through 
the  wilderness  to  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  "  cut  off 
and  destroy  "  all  the  people  that  then  lived  there, 
and  give  the  whole  country  exclusively  to  them 
for  an  everlasting  possession.  This  was  partiality 
with  a  vengeance.  Besides,  it  showed  most  mon- 
strous cruelty,  and  an  utter  disregard  of  right  and 
justice,  and  all  sound  moral  principle.  A  God  that 
could  be  guilty  of  it  would  deserve  execration  and 
hatred,  rather  than  praise  and  honor.  The  one 
only  living  and  True  God  could  not  have  been 
guilty  of  anything  of  the  kind. 

2nd.  This  man-God  of  Moses  and  the  Chris- 
tians is  represented  to  be  a  jealous  God,  and  the 
fact  is  proved  by  what  purports  to  be  his  own 
declaration  and  confession.  For  in  the  second 
commandment  he  uses  these  words,  4<For  I  the 
Lord  thy  God  am  a  jealous  God."  These  words 
are  reported  to  be  used  in  connection  with  a  clause 
forbidding  the  making  of  images,  and  are  now  held 
to  denounce  idolatry  as  a  most  heinous  sin.  But 
where  is  the  great  harm  ?  An  ignorant  people,  to 
whom  no  spiritual  being  ever  revealed  anything 
about  himself,  but  who  have  conceived  the  idea 
that  some  unseen  power  exists  outside  of  the 
earth,  that  exerts  more  or  less  influence  over  hu- 


24  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

man  affairs,  not  understanding  the  art  of  writing 
and  having  no  other  way  of  recording  or  convey- 
ing thoughts  and  ideas,  resort  to  the  making  of 
images  that  suggest  to  their  minds  some  idea  They 
have  formed  about  that  unseen  being.  And  this 
is  done  with  the  sincere  desire  of  honoring  and 
pleasing  that  being. 

Now,  we  have  a  number  of  Jittle  signs  or  char- 
acters  which  to  us  represent  sounds.     Take  three 
of  these,  G,  O  and  D,  put  them  together,  and  they 
form  the  word 'God,  which  is  an  image,  that,   to 
our  minds,  represents  the  idea  of  a  Supreme  W 
ing.     We  have  books  containing  many  of  those 
images,  and  in  those  books  we  often  see  beautiful 
pictures,  not  only  of  angels,    but  of  Jesus  with 
his    disciples,  or  on  the  cross,   or  in  the  act  of 
ascending  up  to  heaven.     Then,  how  can  we,  how 
could  Moses,  or  any  good,  fair  and  just    being, 
complain  or  get  angry,  and  threaten  to  punish  sucli 
an  ignorant  people,  for  making  images  to  repre- 
sent ideas  concerning  invisible  beings?     There  is 
no  more  moral  turpitude  in  it    than   in  making 
bibles.     The  true  God  could  not  stoop  to  any  such 
meanness,  nor  could  he  possibly  be  jealous  of  any- 
thing, animate  or  inanimate,  in  whatever  shape  it 
might  be  formed.     That  commandment  was  for- 
mulated and  promulgated  by  Moses  for  fear  that 
f  his  people  were  allowed    to  make  images,   as 
they   undoubtedly  had   been  accustomed  to  do, 


AGAINST  THE  GOD  OP  MOSES.  25 

that  it  might  distract  their  minds  from  him  as  the 
only  mediator  between  them  and  the  God  he  had 
set  up  for  them,  and  thus  imperil  his  control  over 
them.  All  the  jealousy  was  in  the  mind  of  Moses. 

3rd.  This  man-God  of  Moses  and  the  Chris- 
tians was  cruel.  What  he  is  reported  to  have 
said  and  promised  in  regard  to  murdering,  cut- 
ting off,  and  destroying  the  inhabitants  of  Ca- 
naan,which  has  been  alluded  to,  and  will  hereafter 
be  considered  more  at  large,  is  sufficient  evidence 
of  the  fact ;  but  there  is  much  other  evidence  to 
the  same  point.  I  will  mention  only  one  other 
instance,  and  that,  because  it  was  often  used  in 
my  early  days  to  scare  children,  and  gave  them 
a  horrible  idea  of  God.  It  is  the  case  where  it 
is  said  two  she-bears  were  sent  out  of  the  woods 
to  tear  in  pieces  forty-two  children,  for  speaking 
disrespectfully  to  one  of  the  so-called  prophets. 

4th.  This  man-God  of  Moses  and  the  Chris- 
tians is  represented  to  be  a  vain  God.  It  is  true, 
they  do  not  use  just  that  word  in  connection  with 
his  name,  but  they  describe  him  in  a  way  that 
leaves  no  doubt  of  the  fact.  He  likes  to  be  no- 
ticed, is  fond  of  praise,  adulation,  and  worship. 
Like  a  u  scurvy  politician,"  he  delights  to  have 
liis  creatures  continually  "  talking  him  up,"  tell- 
ing him  how  good  and  great  he  is,  kneeling  and 
prostrating  themselves  in  abject  attitudes,  and 
smearing  themselves  with  dust  and  ashes.  For- 


2.6  VINDICATION   OF  THE  TRUE  GOD 

merly  he  was  highly  pleased  with  the  killing  and 
roasting  of  beef  and  mutton  on  piles  of  stones,  so 
that  he  might  "  smell  the  sweet  savor  ";  but  in 
modern  times  he  is  appeased  and  satisfied  with 
humble  prayers,  singing  of  doleful  psalms,  wear- 
ing long  faces,  maintaining  an  austere  demeanor, 
confessing  sins,  pleading  for  pardon,  building 
churches,  helping  him  to  extend  his  kingdom  and 
to  increase  his  glory. 

It  is  not  possible  that  the  true  God  can  be  any 
such  kind  of  a  being  as  this.  He  cannot  be  doubt- 
ful of  his  own  position.  He  is  perfectly  con- 
scious of  his  own  greatness,  power,  wisdom  and 
goodness,  and  does  not  need  to  be  told  and  re- 
minded of  them  ;  and  it  is  beyond  the  power  of 
man  to  add  to  his  glory  or  increase  or  diminish, 
or  at  all  affect,  his  happiness.  His  happiness  is 
an  ever  onward  flowing,  even  current  of  perfect 
bliss,  broad  and  deep  as  eternity,  and  unaffected 
by  any  outside  influence.  He  has  no  transitory 
ebullitions  of  delight  at  one  time,  and  pain  and 
sorrow  at  another,  but  is  always  the  u  same,  yes- 
terday, today  and  forever."  It  follows  that  it  is 
not  possible  that  he  can  be  influenced  by  prayer 
or  worship,  or  anything  man  can  do,  to  change  or 
vary  any  purpose  or  plan  of  action  ;  otherwise, 
everything  would  be  thrown  into  doubt  and  con- 
fusion. Therefore,  he  neither  requires  or  desires 
anything  of  the  kind. 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  27 

And  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  he  is 
more  pleased  with  psalm  singing  than  with  the 
opera,  or  other  good  and  lively  music  ;  or  with  a 
prayer-meeting,  than  with  a  jolly  dance ;  or  with 
a  long  face  and  austere  demeanor,  than  he  is  with 
a  cheerful  countenance,  a  merry  laugh  or  a  lively 
frolic.  For  diversion  and  amusement  are  neces- 
sary for  a  healthy  development  of  both  body  and 
mind,  and  are  all  included  in  the  grand  design  of 
the  True  God  to  promote  the  happiness  of  man. 
Happiness  !  happiness  !  That  is  the  great  end  and 
object  of  life,  arid  of  all  God's  designs.  "  What 
he  delights  in  must  be  happy." 

5th.  This  man-God  of  Moses  and  the  Chris- 
tians was  a  double-dealing  and  deceitful  person- 
age. On  the  one  hand,  he  urged  Moses  to  peti- 
tion Pharoah  to  let  his  people  go;  and  on  the  other 
hand,  as  soon  as  Pharoah  consented,  this  God 
would  interfere,  and  secretly  influence  Pharoah  to 
change  his  mind  and  refuse  to  let  them  go.  And 
it  is  represented  he  then  made  this  refusal  a  pre- 
text for  inflicting  upon  all  th3  Egyptians  cruel 
plagues,  such  as  frogs,  lice,  flies,  murrain,  boils, 
locusts,  and  ending  with  killing  the  first-born  in 
all  their  families.  This  farce  was  repeated  ten  or 
eleven  times.  After  this  God  had  thus  glutted 
his  evil  and  wicked  disposition,  the  Israelites 
obtained  permission  to  depart. 

6th.     But,  before  leaving,  this  God  of  Moses 


28  VINDICATION    OF   THE    TRUK   GOD 

and  the  Christians  had  one  more  mean  trick  to 
play  upon  the  Egyptians,  which  was  "to  give 
the  Israelites  favor  in  the  eyes  of  the  Egyptians,"' 
to  enable  them  "  to  borrow  jewels  of  silver  and 
g  >ld,  and  wearing  apparel  of  the  Egyptians,"  with 
intent  to  steal  and  run  away  with  them,  and  thus 
u  spoil  the  Egyptians,"  and  thus  start  his  chosen 
people  in  the  jewelry  and  "old  clo  ''  business. 
That  made  this  God  of  Moses  and  the  Christians 
guilty  of  all  those  petty  larcenies. 

I  present  these  six  several  indictments  against 
this  God  of  Moses,  that  has  been  adopted  by  the 
Christians,  all  of  which  are  clearly  proved  by  the 
record,  and  either  of  which  is  sufficient  to  prove 
that  he  is  not  the  True  God,  and  that  Moses  was 
an  impostor.  I  have  not  gone  one  step  outside 
of  the  record,  but  have  taken  it  just  as  it  stands. 
It  shows  that  this  pretended  God  of  Moses  was, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  guilty  of  all  the  prin- 
cipal crimes  known  to  law,  including  robbery  and 
murder  ;  and  that  he  even  stooped  to  deceit,  and 
double  dealing,  and  petty  larceny.  That  he  had 
no  regard  for  right  and  justice,  and  was  destitute 
of  all  moral  principle.  It  is  impossible  that  any 
of  these  characteristics  or  attributes  can  belong 
to  the  True  God,  and  it  is  obvious  that  an  imagi- 
nary God  can  have  only  such  attributes  as  its  cre- 
ator chooses  to  affix  to  it.  The  only  solution  is 
that  Moses,  who,  with  his  ancestors,  created  this 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSES.  29 

God,  ascribed  to  him  his  own  characteristics  and 
attributes.  They  are  all  the  characteristics  and 
attributes,  not  of  any  God,  but  only  of  Moses  him- 
self. And  they  clearly  show  what  kind  of  a  man 
Moses  was. 

It  is  a  great  marvel  how  such  a  God  as  this  pre- 
tended God  of  Moses  evidently  was  could  have 
got  such  a  start  in  the  world,  and  maintained 
such  a  sway  and  dominion  as  he  has  for  over 
three  thousand  years,  over  so  many  of  the  most 
intelligent  portion  of  mankind.  Reason  teaches 
the  existence  of  a  great  Creator,  and  knowledge 
of  his  works  has  revealed  to  us  what  must  be 
some  of  his  attributes.  All  beyond  this  is  only 
vain  conjecture.  Here  knowledge  and  reason 
meet  an  impassable  barrier.  All  beyond  is  the 
boundless  field  of  fancy,  in  which  superstition 
has  plowed  and  harrowed  and  toiled  and  revelled 
from  remotest  time,  but  to  no  purpose.  For  every- 
thing it  has  produced  is  but  the  offspring  and 
flummery  of  delusive  imagination.  As  it  is  en- 
tirely out  of  the  dominion  of  knowledge  and  rea- 
son, they  are  powerless  either  to  affirm  or  refute 
any  of  its  theories.  Mysterious  infatuations,  en- 
gendered by  childish  ignorance,  became  impressed 
upon  the  minds  of  our  very  remote  ancestors,  and, 
with  certain  modifications  made  from  time  to 
time,  they  have  been  handed  down  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  and  prevail  at  the  present  day. 


30  VINDICATION   OF   THK  T»UK   GOD 

Eeason  seems  to  have  no  more  control  over  them 
now  than  it  had  thousands  of  years  ago,  or  much 
to  do  with  them.  A  mysterious  story  gets  started 
by  some  perhaps  unknown,  but  certainly  irre- 
sponsible, person  ;  superstition  catches  it  up,  en- 
larges and  shapes  it,  and  evolves  it  into  a  religious 
dogma.  This  is  the  grand  source  of  all  religious 
doctrines,  and  no  real  authentic  account  can  be 
given  of  their  origin. 

Therefore,  the  world  progresses,  becomes  more 
and  more  enlightened  in  regard  to  all  matters 
that  are  within  the  scope  and  domain  of  reason 
and  knowledge.  They  work  and  develop  the 
rich  surface  soil  ;  while  the  antique  delusions 
which  are  out  of  the  reach,  and  are  not  subject 
to  the  control  of  reason  and  knowledge,  and  which 
are  the  barren  subsoil,  still  remain  undisturbed 
in  superstitious  minds.  For  this  reason,  supersti- 
tion of  all  things  is  the  most  difficult  to  overcome, 
and  the  last  to  disappear. 

Some  people  may  be  surprised  to  be  told  that 
Christians  now  believe  in  this  God  of  Moses,  but 
such  is  the  fact.  All  denominations  of  Christians 
still  hold  to  and  worship  the  same  God,  in  con- 
nection with  his  reputed  Son.  The  Jews  also 
stick  to  him,  but  do  not  believe  that  he  was  the 
father  of  Jesus.  The  Mohammedans  also  hold 
to  the  same  God,  believe  that  Jesus  was  a  respect- 
able prophet,  but  that  Mahomet  was  far  his 


AGAINST   THE:   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  31 

superior.  All  believe  in  the  same  God,  and  all 
the  so-called  orthodox  Christians  believe  that  all 
that  is  said  about  him  in  the  Old  Testament  is 
literally  true,  inerrant,  infallible,  and  that  it  is  a 
damnable  sin  to  doubt  it.  To  prove  this,  I  need 
only  to  refer  to  the  case  of  Dr.  Briggs,of  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.  He  is  a  very  learned  man,  and  had 
charge  of  a  theological  institution.  lie  dared  to 
doubt  the  accuracy  of  some  parts  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  for  this  he  was  accused  of  heresy. 
He  was  tried  before  the  ecclesiastical  tribunals, 
and  convicted,  and  is  now  denounced  as  a  here- 
tic. Those  learned  prosecutors  may  think  they 
have  done  a  great  thing  for  their  faith,  and  they 
have.  They  have  established  a  most  decided  and 
emphatic  contempt  for  it,  wherever  known. 
About  three  hundred  years  ago  the  sentence  of 
Dr.  Briggs  would  have  been  death  by  fire  at  the 
stake,  and  it  would  have  been  so  now  if  the  pros- 
ecution had  the  power.  It  shows  that  the  same 
old  leaven  is  still  there,  and  that  the  safety  of 
society  depends  upon  never  allowing  religion  to 
<?et  control. 


32  VINDICATION   OF   THE)   TRUK   GOD 

CHAPTER  TIL 

THE    SCHEME    OF    MOSES. 

MOSES  was  undoubtedly  a  great  man  in  his 
time,  an  able  leader  and  a  shrewd  politician.  He 
enjoyed  the  advantage  of  being  educated  in  the 
royal  family  of  Egypt,  and  therefore,  necessarily, 
as  a  priest,  he  was  well  versed  in  all  the  mys- 
teries of  the  Egyptian  religion,  which  was  pagan- 
ism. Hence,  he  must  have  been  simply  a  pagan. 
He  found  his  race  in  bondage,  and  lie  formed  the 
great  design  of  liberating  them,  leading  them  to 
Canaan,  conquering  that  country,  and  there  build- 
ing up  an  independent  nation.  Their  forefathers, 
Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  lived  there,  and  he 
considered  it  the  most  desirable  country' he  knew 
of  for  the  experiment.  At  the  time  they  lived 
there  they  were  but  few  in  number.  When  Jacob, 
on  the  invitation  of  Joseph,  migrated  to  Egypt, 
he,  with  his  family,  servants  and  all  that  accom- 
panied him,  numbered  only  seventy  souls,  lie 
left  a  sacred  burial  place  in  Canaan,  which  was 
bought  and  paid  for  by  Abraham  ;  but  aside  from 
this  it  is  not  likely  that  he  had  title  to  much 
land.  While  he  lived  there,  being  a  just  man, 
he  was  on  terms  of  friendship  with  his  neighbors, 
as  Abraham  and  Isaac  also  were. 


AGAINST  THK  GOD   OF   MOSP^S.  33 

The  record  says  the  Israelites  had  been  in 
Egypt  four  hundred  and  thirty  years,  and  during 
that  time  they  had  increased  from  seventy  to  about 
two  millions,  and  the  land  that  Jacob  left  in 
Canaan  would  hardly  accommodate  that  number. 
In  those  days,  the  moral  right  of  people  to  the 
country  they  lived  in  was  very  little  regarded. 
The  doctrine  that  might  makes  right  generally 
prevailed,  and  in  this  respect,  or  on  any  other 
moral  question,  Moses  was  not  at  all  in  advance 
of  the  age.  And,  therefore,  he  conceived  the 
idea  of  conquering  and  taking  possession  of  that 
whole  country,  and  giving  his  people  most  exclu- 
sive possession  of  it. 

His  plans  were  deeply  laid  and  most  thoroughly 
matured.  Difficulties  were  foreseen,  and  the 
means  to  obviate  or  overcome  them  had  been  well 
considered.  He  had  studied  it  during  the  forty 
years  he  lived  in  the  wilderness  with  Jethro,  his 
father-in  law.  It  was  no  hastily  devised  scheme. 
He  had  been  over  the  ground,  and  understood  the 
topography  of  all  important  localities.  He  also 
understood  the  people  he  had  to  deal  with.  They 
had  been  oppressed  and  degraded  as  bondsmen  for 
ages.  They  were  ignorant  and  very  superstitious. 
He  clearly  understood  that  religious  superstition 
was  the  strongest  cord  that  could  be  used  to  bind 
such  a  people  to  a  purpose,  and  he  determined  to 
use  it  to  the  full  extent  of  his  power,  and  he  also 


34  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

determined  upon  the  kind  of  God  he  would  use 
for  that  purpose.  He  knew  just  when,  where  and 
how  to  begin. 

He  was  eighty  years  old  at  the  time  of  the 
exodus,  and  his  high  intellectual  powers,  coupled 
with  his  gray  hairs  and  venerable  appearance, 
commanded  attention  and  respect.  And  the  dig- 
nity and  earnestness  with  which  he  unfolded  the 
design  to  take  that  down- trodden  race  from  under 
their  cruel  task-masters,  and  settle  them  in  a  land 
of  their  own,  "  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  hon- 
ey," aroused  their  unbounded  enthusiasm.  This 
was  the  great  scheme  of  Moses  which  he  studied 
out  and  planned  while  tending  the  flocks  of  Jethro. 
and  it  was  the  motive  power  and  mainspring  of 
all  his  subsequent  actions. 

Before  unfolding  this  scheme,  Moses  undoubt- 
edly taught  the  people  the  ideas  he  had  formed 
in  regard  to  the  God  that  he  would  represent  as 
their  God,  and  as  the  greatest  of  all  Gods.  They 
must  have  a  God  of  their  own  as  other  people  had, 
and  a  little  different  from  other  Gods.  He  re- 
ferred to  some  old  traditions,  (probably  manu- 
factured or  remodeled  them  himself  to  suit  his 
purpose,  as  we  have  no  knowledge  of  them  except 
through  him,)  about  how  God  made  the  world. 
All  pagans  had  about  the  same  idea  about  their 
gods.  How  he  made  Adam  and  Eve,  how  he 
"  came  down,"  and  visited  and  talked  with  them  ; 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  35 

how  he  "came  down"  and  talked  with  Noah, 
and  employed  him  to  build  the  ark,  and  afterwards 
u  came  down"  to  Shinar  to  see  about  the  tower 
they  were  building.  Then  he  represented  him  to 
be  the  special  and  particular  God  of  Abraham, 
Isaac  and  Jacob,  their  forefathers, — that  he  fre- 
quently "came  down"  and  visited  them,  and 
covenanted  to  give  to  their  seed  all  the  land  of 
Canaan  for  an  everlasting  possession.  How  this 
God  told  Abraham  that  his  posterity  would  be 
strangers  and  serve  in  a  strange  land  for  four 
hundred  years,  (which  described  TV  hat  had  hap- 
pened to  them,)  but  that  they  would  eventually 
come  out  "  with  great  substance.''  As  they  had 
been  in  Egypt  a  little  longer  than  that,  this  pre- 
tence tallied  with  their  condition,  and  the  infer- 
ence was  that  the  time  had  now  come  to  be  de- 
livered. 

After  thus  instilling  into  their  minds  the  belief 
that  this  God  was  in  the  habit,  at  times,  of  "com- 
ing down"  and  visiting  and  talking  with  man,  he 
was  ready  to  advance  his  great  and  leading  pre- 
tence, which  governed  and  colored  all  others,  and 
guided  and  controlled  all  his  subsequent  actions. 
It  was  the  first  and  leading  pretence  ;  and  this, 
with  the  pretended  orders,  directions  and  prom- 
ises of  this  God,  made  in  furtherance  of  the 
scheme  it  unfolds,  is  the  touchstone  by  which  the 
truth  or  falsity  of  all  his  pretences  must  be  tried, 


36  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

judged  of  and  determined.  The  pretence  was, 
that  while  tending  the  flocks  of  his  father-in-law 
in  the  wilderness,  this  God  called  to  him  from  a 
bush  that  appeared  to  be  flaming  with  fire,  inti- 
mated that  the  Israelites  were  his  own  peculiar 
people,  and  said  to  him,  "I  am  the  God  of  thy 
father,  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob." 
"I  have  surely  seen  the  affliction  of  my  people 
which  are  in  Egypt,  and  I  am  come  down  to  de- 
liver them  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Egyptians,  and  to 
bring  them  up  out  of  that  land  unto  a  good  and 
a  large ;  unto  aland  flowing  with  milk  and  honey; 
unto  the  place  of  the  Canaanites,  and  the  Hittites, 
and  the  Amorites,  and  the  Perizzites,  and  the 
Hivites,  and  the  Jebusites";  and  ordered  him, 
Moses,  to  attend  to  the  business ;  that  he,  Moses, 
pretended  much  diffidence  and  doubt  as  to  his 
ability  for  such  an  undertaking  but  that  God 
urged  it  upon  him,  and  to  strengthen  and  encour 
age  him,  said,  "  Certainly,  I  will  'be  with  thee." 
So  it  seems,  according  to  Moses,  God  was  the 
first  to  suggest  and  direct  this  scheme;  and  that 
afterwards,  and  in  furtherance  of  the  same,  Moses 
told  them  that  God  said  to  him,  "  I  will  send  my 
angel  before  thee  to  keep  thee  in  the  way/'  "I 
will  be  an  enemy  of  thy  enemies,  and  an  adver- 
sary of  thy  adversaries,  and  bring  thee  unto  the 
land  of  the  Amorites,  and  the  Hittites,  and  the 
Perizzites,  and  the  Canaanites,  and  the  Hivites,  and 


AGAINST  THK   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  37 

the  Jebusites,  and  I  will  cut  them  off"  "And  I 
will  destroy  all  the  people  to  whom  thou  shalt 
come."  This  is  the  first,  the  great  and  all-absorb- 
ing pretense  of  Moses,  and  the  most  important  of 
all  things  in  the  Pentatuch.  It  was  the  first  pre- 
tended interview  between  God  and  Moses,  and 
the  beginning  of  his  career ;  the  first  dominant 
and  the  most  important  of  all  pretences  as  relates 
to  God,  and  upon  which  hangs  the  whole  question 
whether  Moses  is  to  be  believed  or  not.  If  this 
story  is  true,  and  truthfully  represents  the  True 
God,  then  we  may  believe  anything  else  that 
Moses  says.  That  was  the  starting  point,  and  if 
true  we  may  as  well  lay  down  our  arms  and  sur- 
render, for  we  are  at  the  mercy  of  a  most  fearful 
God. 

To  judge  of  the  truth  or  falsity  of  such  a 
pretence  involves  an  inquiry  into  the  motives 
which  Moses  had,  to  pretend  that  God  ordered  and 
directed  and  promised  to  assist  in  carrying  out 
that  scheme  ;  and  also  the  right,  justice  and  mo- 
rality of  the  scheme  itself  ;  and  whether  it  is  pos- 
sible that  the  True  God  could  have  had  anything 
to  do  with  it,  as  represented  by  Moses.  These 
questions  will  be  fully  considered  after  we  have 
shown  how  the  scheme  was  carried  out.  For  a 
solution  of  just  these  questions  must  determine 
whether  or  not  the  Hebraic  religion  or  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  which  grew  out  of  and  is  founded 
upon  it,  had  any  Divine  origin. 


38  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUK   GOD 

Moses,  of  course,  claimed  that  he  was  on  the 
most  intimate  terms  of  friendship  \vitli  God,  had 
constant  personal  interviews  and  consultations 
with  him,  and  was  acting  in  all  things  under  his 
advice  and  personal  directions. 

By  such  pretences  he  won  the  hearts  and  se- 
cured the  reverence  of  the  people.  They  were 
ready  to  accept  his  God,  and  devote  themselves 
to  his  service.  He  further  made  them  believe 
that  they  must  accept  and  rely  upon  himself  as 
the  only  mediator  between  them  and  God,  and 
that  all  communications  must  pass  through  him. 
They  must  not  have  any  idols,  as  idols  might  dis- 
tract their  minds  from  him,  and  weaken  his  con- 
trol. This  gave  him  power  to  say  just  what  he 
pleased  about  God,  and  represent  him  as  saying 
just  what  it  would  please  him  to  have  God  say. 
And  Moses  undoubtedly  used  this  power  in  a  way 
that  he  thought  would  best  answer  his  purpose, 
and  help  him  to  achieve  the  great  conquest  he 
had  in  view.  It  is  evident  that  the  Israelites  had 
no  knowledge  of  his  God,  except  what  they  re- 
ceived from  him,  and  that  they  believed  all  that 
he  said. 

After  contending  a  while  with  the  sorcerers 
and  magicians  of  Pharoah,  and  beating  them  at 
their  own  game,  and  claiming  to  inflict  cruel 
plagues  upon  the  people  of  the  land,  and  after 
being  favored  by  his  God  to  steal  jewels  of  sil- 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  39 

ver  and  gold,  and  wearing  apparel,  from  and  thus 
^  spoil  the  Egyptians/'  they  were  ready  to  desert 
their  old  task-masters,  and  direct  their  steps  to- 
ward the  happy  land  of  Canaan.  They  had  im- 
plicit faith  in  their  great  leader  and  his  God,  and 
they  started  oft'  with  high  hopes  and  brilliant  ex- 
pectations. The  caravan  numbered  ;isix  hundred 
thousand  men  on  foot,  besides  children  " — prob- 
ably many  on  animals  and  in  carriages.  There 
is  no  mention  of  women,  but  it  afterwards  appears 
there  were  many.  "And  a  mixed  multitude  went 
up,  also,  with  them;  and  flocks  and  herds — even 
very  much  cattle."  In  all,  they  must  have  num- 
bered about  two  millions  of  people.  They  were 
elated  with  the  idea  that  in  &few  days  they  would 
be  in  "  the  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey." 

Moses  knew  better,  and  he  foresaw  that  that 
disappointment  would  be  one  of  the  troubles  lie 
would  have  to  meet. »  They  were  an  unorganized 
rabble,  and,  even  with  all  the  promised  help  of 
God,  they  were  in  no  condition  to  meet  and  over- 
come such  opposition  as  they  would  have  to  face 
in  Canaan.  It  would  be  necessary  to  keep  them 
some  time  in  the  wilderness, to  organize  and  train 
them  for  the  contest.  And  it  would  also  be  nec- 
essary for  Moses  to  furnish  some  satisfactory  ex- 
cuses. He  anticipated  all  this,  and  he  was  pre- 
pared to  show  that  his  God  would  either  help  him 
out,  or  convince  them  that  he  was  doing  right, 


40  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUK   GOD 

and  acting  for  their  best  interest.  He  had  got 
them  to  the  plains  of  Sina-i,  and  that  was  the 
place  above  all  others  that  would  answer  his  pur- 
pose. 

It  took  a  few  days  to  reach  Sinai,  and  that  was 
enough  to  show  them  that  a  march  through  the 
wilderness  was  not  a  mere  holiday  excursion,  and 
the  buoyancy  of  their  feelings  began  to  abate. 
There  was  a  scarcity  of  food,  and  they  suffered 
with  hunger,  and  they  missed  many  other  com- 
forts they  had  been  accustomed  to  enjoy.  Their 
views  changed.  They  began  to  doubt  the  divine 
authority  of  Moses,  and  whether  he  was  quite  as 
intimate  with  God  and  as  sure  of  his  support  and 
assistance  as  he  pretended.  They  had  never  seen 
any  meetings  or  heard  any  conversations  between 
them.  They  were  not  being  led  the  shortest 
way  to  Canaan,  and  would  not  reach  there  as 
soon  as  they  expected.  Their  ardor  was  cooled. 
They  were  disappointed.  They  longed  for  the 
flesh-pots  of  Egypt,  and  wanted  to  return  there. 
Their  faith  in  Moses  was  shaken.  They  began 
to  murmur, and  accuse  Moses  and  Aaron  with  the 
design  of  leading  "them  out  into  the  wilderness 
to  kill  them  with  hunger." 

Moses  was  prepared  for  the  emergency.  He 
foresaw  it,  and  Sinai  was  just  the  place  he  had 
fixed  upon  for  making  a  most  convincing  demon- 
stration. And  to  this  end  he  cunningly  arranged 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  41 

to  have  a  pretended  meeting  witli  God,  in  such  a 
way  that  it  would  seem  to  be  in  their  presence, 
and  yet  so  that  in  fact  they  could  not  tell  whether 
there  was  any  actual  meeting  or  not.  lie  ap- 
pointed the  meeting  to  be  held  upon  the  moun- 
tain, lie  had  plenty  of  confederates  interested 
in  his  scheme,  and  he  and  they  had  been  up  in 
the  mountain  beforehand,  and  had  prepared  a 
place  where  he  might  spend  a  few  days  comforta- 
bly ;  and  they  had  undoubtedly  gathered  near 
the  top  a  large  pile  of  brush  and  combusti- 
bles ready  for  the  occasion.  To  prevent  eaves- 
droppers and  curiosity  seekers  from  skulking 
around  to  see  or  hear  and  exposing  the  deception, 
Moses  set  a  strong  guard  of  his  confederates 
around  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  and  proclaimed 
the  solemn  commandment  as  coming  from  God  : 
<;  Take  heed  that  you  go  not  up  into  the  moun- 
tain ,  or  touch  the  border  of  it :  whosoever  touches 
the  Mount  shall  be  surely  put  to  death.''  This 
prevented  any  one  from  hearing  or  seeing  what 
took  place  up  there,  and  left  Moses  to  tell  just 
such  a  story  as  he  pleased,  without  fear  of  con- 
tradiction. 

There  is  a  fact  which  should  have  its  proper 
weight  and  bearing  in  considering  the  account  of 
this  pretended  meeting,  and  that  is,  that  the  Is- 
raelites had  never  heard  or  seen  any  such  things 
as  thunder  and  lightning,  as  such  things  were 


42  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

never  known  in  Egypt.  About  Mt.  Sinai  they 
were  common,  and  Moses  designed  to  make  use 
of  them  to  play  an  important  part  in  his  farce,  to 
terrify  his  ignorant  and  superstitious  people,  and 
make  them  believe  all  his  pretensions.  It  was 
what  he  calculated  upon  long  beforehand. 

When  the  appointed  time  came,  Moses  started  up 
into  the  mountain  in  sight  of  all  the  people.  They 
could  see  the  venerable  old  man,  slowly  and  sol- 
emnly climbing  up  the  steep  grades.  His  form 
gradually  diminishes  in  appearance,  till  at  length 
a  natural  turn  in  his  path  takes  him  out  of  sight, 
and  he  arrives  at  his  ready-prepared  retreat.  He 
stays  there  until  a  thunder  storm  occurs.  The 
black  cloud  moves  over,  and  seems  to  rest  upon 
the  mountain.  He  sets  the  brush  heap  on  fire, 
the  flame  and  smoke  ascend,  and  the  whole  moun- 
tain top  seems  to  be  in  a  blaze.  The  lightnings 
flash,  and  the  more  terrible  thunders  roar  and 
shake  the  ground.  The  people  arc  amazed,  con- 
founded, awe-struck.  They  could  have  no  doubt 
that  Moses  was  having  a  meeting  with  God  ; 
that  they  were  on  the  most  intimate  terms  of 
friendship  with  each  other,  and  that  whatever 
Moses  might  say  would  surely  represent  Divine 
Will.  When  he  came  down,  he  brought  two 
hewn  tables  of  stone,  which  he  said  God  had 
made  for  him,  and  had  written  upon  both  sides 
of  them  with  his  own  finger,  what  afterwards  ap- 


AGAINST  THE  GOD  OF  MOSES..  43 

peared  to  be  the  Ten  Commandments.  On  an- 
other occasion,  when  he  went  up  into  the  moun- 
tain, Moses  reported  that  God  arranged  it  so  that 
he,  in  fact,  saw  the  "  back  parts  "  of  the  very 
jerson  of  God.  That  God  would  not  allow  his 
face  to  be  seen  by  man,  as  man  could  not  possibly 
endure  the  glory  of  it.  So  God  put  him  into  the 
cleft  of  a  rock,  and  covered  him  with  his  hand, 
while. the  glory  of  his  front  parts  passed  over, 
and  then  took  away  his  hand,  so  that  he  saw  his 
"  back  parts."  The  lightning  and  thunder,  fire 
and  smoke,  to  the  ignorant  minds  of  his  people, 
confirmed  as  truth  all  his  statements  and  preten- 
sions. 

But  when  Moses  came  down  from  the  mountain, 
he  discovered  that  some  of  the  people  had  become 
discontented,  and  clamored  for  a  God,  and  that  to 
pacify  them  Aaron  had  made  for  them  a  golden 
calf,  in  imitation,  probably,  of  Apis,  an  Egyptian 
god.  Moses  pretended  to  be  very  angry.  It 
seemed  to  threaten  his  supreme  power  and  con- 
trol over  the  people.  Such  things  would  have  a 
tendency  to  distract  their  minds  from  him,  and 
so  weaken  his  authority.  It  was  necessary  that 
such  things  should  be  nipped  in  the  bud.  So  like 
a  child  with  his  playthings,  he  dashed  the  two 
tables  down  to  the  ground,  and  broke  them  to 
pieces.  It  is  hardly  likely,  if  his  pretensions  were 
true,  that  they  were  actually  hewed  out  by  God 


44  VINDICATION   OF  THE  TRUE  GOD 

and  contained  his  personal  autograph,  that  lie 
would  have  treated  them  with  so  much  irrever- 
ence and  disrespect.  This  act  can  be  accounted 
for  only  on  the  ground  that  Moses  knew  that 
there  were  enough  more  where  they  came  from, 
and  he  used  the  incident  to  impress  the  people 
that  if  they  persisted  in  clamoring  for  idols,  and 
did  not  obey,  and  do  just  as  he  (Moses)  com- 
manded, God  would  abandon  them  to  utter  de- 
struction. It  had  the  desired  effect,  and  Moses 
easily  obtained  more  tables. 

The  question  now  arises,  Is  this  story  of  Moses 
about  meeting  God  on  Mt.  Sinai,  true  ?  l)id  any 
such  meeting  in  fact  occur,  or  was  it  only  a  farce 
and  false  pretence? 

The  story  is  the  only  foundation  of  the  Jewish 
and  Christian  belief  in  divine  revelation,  and  of 
their  systems  of  religion;  and,  if  true, it  would 
prove  that  this  partial,  jealous,  vain,  and  cruel 
God  is  after  all  the  real  True  God.  But  is  it  true? 
Can  it  possibly  be  true  ? 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSSS.  45 

CHAPTER  IV. 

MOSES    AT    SINAI. 

IN  criticising  the  story  of  the  pretended  meet- 
ing on  Mount  Siriai,  it  must  be  remarked: 

1st.  That  such  a  meeting  would  be  miraculous, 
something  contrary  to  human  experience  ;  and,  to 
entitle  it  to  belief,  it  requires  strong  proof — proof 
commensurate  with  its  improbability.  We  have 
nothing  but  the  word  of  Moses  for  it,  if  indeed 
we  have  as  much  as  that,  for  it  is  by  no  means 
certain  who  wrote  the  account  of  it.  To  believe 
it  requires  not  faith  in  God,  as  Christian  teach- 
ings would  seem  to  imply,  but  faith  in  Moses. 
llere  is  the  great  point.  Faith,  not  in  God,  but 
in  Moses,  is  required  as  the  groundwork  and  foun- 
dation of  both  the  Jewish  and  Christian  religions. 

2nd.  Moses  was  an  interested  witness.  He  had 
a  strong  motive  to  pretend  that  he  was  on  intimate 
terms  of  friendship  with  God,  in  order  to  secure 
the  confidence  and  control  of  the  people,  and  to 
represent  God  as  saying  to  him  privately  such 
things  as  would  inspire  them  with  courage  and 
resolution  to  persevere  to  accomplish  his  design 
of  settling  them  in  Canaan.  And  it  was  all  in 
his  power  to  represent  God  as  saying  and  prom- 


46  VINDICATION    OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

ising  just  such  things  as  he  knew  would  please 
the  people. 

3rd.  The  pretences  were  not  designed  or  cal- 
culated to  injure  his  people,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
only  to  inspire  them  with  confidence  in  him  as 
their  leader,  and  courage  to  prosecute  the  work. 
Hence  they  were  quite  innocent  so  far  as  his  peo- 
ple were  concerned,  and  Moses  cared  for  nothing 
else. 

4th.  The  scene  is  laid  in  an  early,  ignorant 
age,  when  Moses,  (as  appears  from  Genesis,  the 
authorship  of  which  is  ascribed  to  him,)  as  well  as 
everybody  else,  believed  that  this  world  was  all 
there  was  of  creation — that  God  was  limited  to 
it — that  lie  existed  in  a  human  form — and  traveled 
about  from  place  lo  place.  All  such  ideas  were 
simply  heathenish  ;  and  with  such  ideas  Moses, 
undoubtedly,  thought  it  would  be  safe  to  make 
such  representations  as  would  help  him  to  accom- 
plish his  designs.  But  they  are  all  inconsistent 
with  reason,  and  cannot  be  true. 

5th.  In  such  an  ignorant  and  superstitious  age, 
and  with  such  beliefs  prevailing,  a  belief  in  such 
marvelous  pretences  was  easily  induced,  and  the 
strong  motive  Moses  had  for  making  them  is  suf- 
ficient to  destroy  their  credibility. 

6th.  The  great  care  and  pains  that  were  taken 
to  secure  secrecy, — exclude  all  eyes  and  ears  from 
the  identical  spot  of  the  pretended  meeting, — the 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  47 

guard  around  the  mountain,  and  the  penalty  of 
death  to  anyone  that  touched  it,  proved  that  it 
was  a  deception  and  a  farce. 

7th.  The  manner  in  which  Moses  treated  the 
two  tables  of  stone  which  he  pretended  were  hewn 
out  by  God,  and  contained  the  very  autograph  of 
God  himself,  shows  that  he  had  no  such  rever- 
ence and  respect  for  them  as  he  certainly  would 
have  had  if  his  pretences  had  been  true. 

8th.  There  were  many  people  on  the  earth  for 
at  least  two  or  three  thousand  years,  and  prob- 
ably a  great  deal  more,  before  the  time  of  this 
pretended  meeting,  far  advanced  in  civilization, — 
the  Egyptians,  Syrians,  Assyrians,  Persians, etc., 
all  inquiring  and  anxious  to  get  some  reasonable 
and  true  idea  and  conception  of  God  ;  and  if  God 
ever  intended  to  make  a  particular  revelation  of 
himself  in  person  to  man,  it  is  unreasonable  and 
absurd  to  suppose  that  he  would  have  perfectly 
ignored,  overlooked,  and  passed  by  all  those  oth- 
er peoples,  and  waited  to  the  time  of  Moses,  and 
revealed  himself  for  the  first  time  in  that  wilder- 
ness, and  to  such  a  rabble  of  Egyptian  slaves.  I 
say  the  first  time,  for  all  the  stories  about  his 
visits  to  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  were  fabrica- 
tions of  Moses.  There  is  no  other  proof  of  any 
visits  to  them  but  his  word.  Beside,  his  visits  to 
them  as  described  were  for  frivolous  purposes; 
there  was  no  revelation  made  to  them  of  interest 


48  VINDICATION  OF  THE  TRUK  GOD 

to  mankind, — nothing  but  that  their  seed  was  to 
have  the  land  of  Canaan.  As  we  can  easily  see 
his  motive  and  design,  we  must  discredit  the  rep- 
resentations. 

9th  If  God  ever  intended  to  make  a  personal 
revelation  of  himself  to  man,  and  it  was  impor- 
tant, and  he  required  and  intended  to  have  it  be- 
lieved, he  would  not  have  made  it  so  secretly  to 
one  man,  and  made  the  belief  of  it  to  depend 
wholly  upon  the  credibility  of  that  one  man  :  all 
to  depend  as  it  does  exclusively  upon  faith  in 
MoseS)  who  had  a  strong  personal  motive  and  in- 
terest to  deceive  and  make  false  pretences.  It 
was  just  as  easy  for  God  to  proclaim  himself  pub- 
licly and  directly  to  the  whole  assembly  on  the 
plain,  or  to  every  inhabitant  on  earth  at  once,  to 
the  Egyptians,  Assyrians,  etc.,  who  were  anxious 
to  learn,  and  then  there  could  have  been  no  doubt. 
Then  we  could  have  faith  in  God.  As  it  now 
stands,  all  there  is  to  depend  upon  is  faith  in 
Moses.  All  depends  upon  faith  in  Moses. 

10th.  The  pretence  of  Moses,  that  he  actually 
saw  the  "  back  parts"  of  the  person  of  God,  as 
related  in  the  thirty-third  chapter  of  Exodus,  and 
representing  him  to  have  a  human  form,  with 
face,  feet,  hands  and  back  parts,  is  an  obvious 
falsehood,  and  characterizes  all  his  other  pre- 
tences. This  alone  proves  that  he  was  an  impos 
tor,  and  unworthy  of  belief. 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  49 

llth.  But  there  is  another  and  very  important 
test,  which  shows  that  the  pretence  of  Moses  in 
regard  to  having  a  personal  interview  with  God 
on  Mount  Sinai,  and  there  receiving  revelations 
from  him,  was  false  ;  and  that  is  the  fact  that  the 
revelation  he  pretended  to  receive  contained  noth- 
ing of  importance  to  mankind  that  was  then  new 
to  the  world.  All  the  sound  moral  precepts  con- 
tained in  the  decalogue  had  been  established  law, 
wherever  mankind  was  formed  into  society,  for 
thousands  of  years  before  Moses  ever  saw  Mount 
Sinai.  These  things  required  no  special  revela- 
tion, for  they  were  originally  implanted  or  incor- 
porated in  the  nature  of  man,  and  had  long  been 
developed  by  the  reason  with  which  God  also 
originally  endowed  man.  Moses  put  them  into  a 
concise,  tangible  and  useful  shape,  as  he  was  fully 
competent  to  do  ;  for  they  were  a  necessary  part  of 
his  education  as  an  Egyptian  priest,  and  he  per- 
fectly understood  them.  When  he  murdered  the 
Egyptian,  he  knew  what  the  penalty  would  be,  if 
discovered.  Hence,  he  fled  to  the  wilderness, 
where  he  lived  with  Jethro  forty  years  before  he 
pretended  that  God  noticed  him.  There  was 
nothing  in  this  decalogue,  or  any  revelation  Moses 
pretended  to  receive,  which  was  important  for  man 
to  know,  that  had  not  been  well  known  for  ages. 
There  was  no  revelation  in  regard  to  any  future 
state,  what  would  become  of  man  after  this  life. 


50  VINDICATION   OF  THE  TRUE  GOD 

All  rewards  and  punishments  spoken  of  in  the 
decalogue  are  confined  to  this  life.  There  is  not 
the  slightest  intimation  about  any  future  existence, 
or  about  a  hell,  or  a  devil,  or  any  scheme  of  sal- 
vation which  Christians  now  claim  to  believe  — 
nothing  at  all,  except  what  was  then  within  the 
knowledge  of  man  and  well  understood.  Motes 
was  cunning  enough  to  confine  the  revelations  to 
what  was  within  his  own  knowledge,  which  in  ef- 
fect makes  it  no  revelation  at  all.  And  in  the 
interviews  which  Moses  fabricated,  and  pretended 
that  God  had  with  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob, 
there  is  no  allusion  to  any  of  these  things.  The 
only  revelation  made  to  them  was  that  their  seed 
should  have  the  land  of  Canaan.  And  this  was 
taught  by  Moses  to  make  his  people  believe  that 
they  had  a  divine  right  to  it,  and  to  induce  them 
to  fight  for  it. 

I  said  there  was  nothing  of  importance  in  the 
decalogue  that  was  new  to  the  world.  However, 
there  were  two  or  three  new  things  in  it.  The 
first  commandment  explained  by  its  context  was 
decidedly  new.  It  reads  as  follows:  "And  God 
spake  all  these  words,  saying,  I  am  the  Lord  thy 
God,  which  have  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  and  out  of  the  house  of  bondage.  Thou 
shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me."  This  pur- 
ports to  be  a  solemn  declaration  of  God  himself, 
that  he  was  their  God — the  God  of  the  Israelites. 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OK   MOSES.  51 

He  is  represented  as  addressing  the  people  he 
had  brought  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  out  of 
the  house  of  bondage.  He  had  brought  no  other 
people  out  of  Egypt  and  the  house  of  bondage  ; 
hence,  it  is  evident  that  this  declaration  was  in- 
tended for  the  Israelites  exclusively.  And,  as  it 
is  represented  that  he  afterwards  told  them  that 
he  would  be  an  u  enemy  of  their  enemies,  and  an 
adversary  of  their  adversaries,"  and  would  lead 
them  to  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  "  cut  off  and  de- 
stroy" all  other  people  for  their  benefit,  we  must 
conclude  that  it  was  intended  to  be  understood 
that  he  was  most  particularly,  emphatically,  and 
exclusively  their  own  God,  and  that  he  did  not 
care  for, — was  not  the  God  of  any  other  people. 
This  was,  indeed,  a  new  revelation.  But  it  is 
manifestly  false  and  absurd  as  to  the  True  God, 
and  proves  that  Moses  was  imposing  a  falsehood 
upon  his  people.  For  the  True  God  is  the  God 
of  all  mankind,  without  distinction  or  partiality. 
The  second  commandment,  in  spirit  and  real 
meaning,  is  unworthy  of  God  or  man,  as  I  have 
previously  attempted  to  show.  It  was  instigated 
by  the  jealousy  of  Moses,  to  remove  everything 
that  might  have  a  tendency  to  distract  and  divert 
the  minds  of  the  people  from  him,  and  thus  en- 
danorer  his  entire  control  over  them. 

o 

As  to  the  fourth  commandment,  the  Assyrians 
and  other  Eastern  people  kept  the  seventh   day 


52  VINDICATION   OF   THK   TKUK   GOD 

from  time  immemorial.  The  reason  they  as- 
signed was,  that  it  was  supposed  to  be  presided 
over  by  Saturn,  whom  they  considered  to  be  a 
gloomy  god,  and  therefore  they  regarded  it  as  an 
unlucky  day.  For  that  reason  they  would  not 
perform  any  labor  on  that  day,  or  engage  in  any 
enterprise.  The  kings  would  not  ride  out  on  that 
day,  for  fear  something  might  happen  to  them. 
So  all  staid  at  home,  and  kept  it  as  a  feast  day. 
But  a  day  of  rest  from  labor,  as  often  as  one  in 
seven,  and  strictly  guarded  by  law,  to  be  kept  as 
a  day  "made  for  man/'  and  not  as  a  day  for 
which  man  was  made,  would  be  a  wise  provision. 
To  be  of  any  use  to  man,  however,  it  should  be 
devoted  to  whatever  may  best  tend  to  rest  and 
relax  the  mind,  as  well  as  the  body,  from  the 
drudgery  of  labor.  And  this  would  include  in- 
tellectual entertainments  mingled  with  healthy 
diversions,  amusements,  social  gatherings,  and 
whatever  may  tend  to  promote  happiness — the 
great  end  and  object  of  life.  So  far  as  the  Sabbath 
mentioned  in  the  fourth  commandment  would  de- 
viate from  this,  it  could  never  be  approved  by  the 
True  God. 

12th.  The  fact  that  Moses  pretended  that  God 
on  Mt.  Sinai  gave  him  the  plan  and  all  the  minute 
specifications  for  making  the  Tabernacle  and  the 
Ark  of  the  Covenant,  is  further  evidence  of  the 
falsity  of  his  pretences  about  meeting  and  talking 


SIVERSIT 
AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  53 

with  God  on  Mt.  Sinai.  For  it  is  proved  that 
the  Tabernacle  was  patterned  exactly  after  the 
plan  of  the  Egyptian  temples,  and  the  Ark  also 
was  patterned  after  certain  chests  or  boxes  that 
were  used  in  the  temples  for  keeping  their  sacred 
archives, — with  all  which  Moses,  as  an  Egyptian 
priest,  was  perfectly  familiar. 

Considering,  then,  the  age  in  which  this  pre- 
tended meeting  on  Mt.  Sinai  is  said  to  have  oc- 
curred ;  the  miraculousness  and  improbability  of 
it ;  that  there  is  no  evidence  of  it  but  the  word 
of  Moses  ;  the  belief  Moses  then  had  in  regard  to 
creation  and  of  God, — which  will  be  enlarged 
upon  hereafter, — that  God  existed  in  a  human 
form ;  his  declaration  about  seeing  the  person  of 
God  ;  J;he  general  nature  of  the  pretences ;  the 
strong  motive  he  had  for  making  them ;  the 
power  he  had  to  make  them  falsely,  without  the 
fear  of  detection  ;  that  they  were  calculated  to 
please  his  people  ;  the  readiness  with  which  such  an 
ignorant  people  would  believe  marvelous  and  su- 
pernatural stories  ;  the  parade  and  ostentation 
with  which  he  went  up  into  the  carefully  and 
securely  guarded  mountain,  quite  out  of  sight, 
and  using  the  natural  action  of  the  elements  to 
contribute  wonder  and  to  support  the  deception ; 
the  fact  that  the  pretended  revelation  contained 
nothing  but  gross  absurdities,  that  were  then 
new  to  the  world  ;  the  irreverent  manner  with 


54  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

which  he  treated  what  he  claimed  to  be  the  very 
autograph  of  God  himself,  and  his  pretence  of 
having  received  the  plans  and  specifications  for 
making  the  Tabernacle  and  the  Ark  directly  from 
God  ; — taking  all  these  things  together,  we  must 
conclude  that  the  pretences  about  meeting  God 
in  person  on  Mt.  Sinai  are  false ;  that  it  was  all 
deception, — a  stupendous  farce. 


CHAPTER  V. 

* 

HOW  THE    SCHEME    RESULTED. 

AFTER  Moses,  by  his  farcical  demonstrations, 
had  convinced  his  people,  to  their  satisfaction, 
that  he  was  on  terms  of  intimate  personal  friend- 
ship and  daily  companionship  with  God,  and  all 
doubts  as  to  the  truth  of  what  he  told  them  about 
God  were  silenced,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the 
two  great  and  principal  pieces  of  work  that  were 
necessary  to  carry  out  his  design.  One  was  to 
establish  a  system  of  religious  worship,  which 
would  solidify  his  power  and  secure  his  control, 
and  at  the  same  time  furnish  a  National  religion, 


AGAINST  THK   GOD   OF  MOSES.  55 

and  have  them  well  drilled  in  it  before  they  were 
scattered  over  Canaan  ;  and  the  other  was  to  or- 
ganize an  army  capable  of  performing  the  bloody 
work  he  had  marked  out  for  them.  And  both 
were  carried  on  simultaneously. 

His  system  of  worship  was  organized  upon  the 
plan  of  having  a  large  and  influential  body  of  peo- 
ple, each  and  all  personally  interested,  to  advo- 
cate, promote,  and  build  up  the  system.  To  this 
end  he  established  a  priesthood,  to  attend  to  the 
strictly  devotional  part  of  the  business,  and  ap- 
pointed his  brother  Aaron  and  all  his  male  de- 
scendants a  permanent  priesthood  ;  and  as  polyg- 
amy was  not  forbidden,  that  class  after  a  while 
became  quite  numerous.  Next,  he  detailed  all 
the  descendants  of  Levi  as  a  permanent  order  of 
levites,  to  assist  the  priests  in  various  more  or 
less  menial  devotional  labors,  and  this  class  alone, 
when  the  census  was  taken  about  a  year  after 
they  left  Egypt,  numbered  over  twenty-two  thou- 
sand. 

To  provide  for  the  support  of  this  large  body 
of  priests  and  levites,  Moses  devised  a  system  of 
sacrifices,  as  heathen  nations  had  done  before 
him  ;  and  the  people,  partly  by  legal  require- 
ments, and  partly  by  superstitious  devotion,  were 
induced  to  contribute  beef,  mutton,  corn,  oil,  and 
wine  (all  must  be  of  the  very  best  quality,)  and 
those  that  had  none  of  these  things  could  com- 


56  VINDICATION   OF    THE   TRUE   GOD 

pound  with  money.  All  were  theoretically  free 
offerings,  to  be  destroyed  to  please  and  appease 
God,  but  practically  to  feed  and  support  the 
priests  and  levites.  While  the  beef  and  mutton 
were  being  cooked,  the  "  Lord  might  smell  the 
sweet  savor,"  but  the  priests  and  levites  ate  the 
meat.  So  that  large  body  were  employed  to 
support  themselves  by  supporting  the  system. 
Of  course,  it  at  once  became  their  pleasing  duty, 
as  it  so  exactly  coincided  with  their  personal  in- 
terest to  advocate  all  the  pretences  of  Moses, 
and  guard  the  system  against  innovation, —  see 
that  the  superstitions  of  the  people  were  kept  up 
to  fever  heat,  so  that  they  would  not  flag  in  their 
offerings  ;  and  pay  particular  attention  to  seeing 
that  all  the  children  were  fully  educated  in  the 
same  faith.  It  was  all  a  cunningly  devised 
scheme  to  support  the  supporters  of  the  system. 
But  what  are  we  to  think  of  the  main  feature 
of  that  system  of  worship — the  sacrifices  ?  What 
are  we  to  think  of  that  mode  and  manner  of  wor- 
shipping an  intelligent  God  ?  How  can  any  ra- 
tional beings,  unless  steeped  in  ignorance  and 
superstition,  and  destitute  of  any  reasonable  idea 
of  God,  suppose  or  believe  that  he  could  be  honored 
or  pleased  by  having  dumb  brutes  butchered  and 
burned  or  roasted  on  piles  of  stones  ?  As  an  act 
of  worship  of  God,  it  is  supremely  ridiculous. 
l)oes  it  not  show  at  once  that  the  worship  of  God 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  57 

had  nothing  to  do  with  it,  but  that  it  was  only 
a  cunning  scheme  to  support  the  priests  and  le- 
mteSy — that  that  was  the  true  and  only  reason  for 
it, — and  that  they  were  thus  supported  to  secure 
and  bind  them  to  advocate  and  support  the  sys- 
tem and  pretences  of  Moses  ?  Is  it  riot  clear 
that  it  was  all  a  deception,  and  a  fraud  upon  the 
people  ? 

The  other  business  that  Moses  had  on  hand  at 
Sinai  was  to  organize  an  army.  And  this  was  the 
most  important  and  necessary  of  all  things  that  he 
had  to  do.  For  notwithstanding  all  the  promises 
of  assistance  from  God,  which  he  pretended  to 
have,  and  which  would  have  been  amply  sufficient 
if  true,  he  was  too  cunning  to  attempt  to  rely  upon 
them,  and  so  he  set  about  organizing  an  effective 
force.  In  number  he  had  a  plenty  of  men,  but 
they  were  fresh  from  the  fields  of  bondage, — 
quite  raw.  They  were  not  soldiers.  The  work 
he  had  laid  out  to  be  done  required  soldiers. 
Therefore  all  able-bodied  men  were  enrolled,  and 
captains  appointed  over  thousands  and  hundreds 
and  fifties  and  tens;  and,  of  course,  they  were  all 
carefully  drilled,  trained  and  exercised  for  a  long 
time  with  that  terrible  object  in  view.  They 
stayed  in  the  wilderness  many  years  roving  about, 
an  immense  horde  of  marauders,  and  until  all  but 
a  very  few  that  left  Egypt  died  off,  and  a  new 
generation  that  had  not  been  subjected  to  the 


58  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

enervating  influence  of  slavery  had  taken  their 
place.  By  this  time  a  strong  and  powerful  army 
was  formed,  that  was  fully  capable  and  able  to 
carry  out  the  designs  of  Moses  without  any  special 
help  from  God.  Moses,  by  this  time,  was  nearly 
a  hundred  and  twenty  years  old,  and  of  course 
was  unable  to  lead  the  army  in  person  into  the 
field.  He  appointed  Joshua  as  the  general  for 
that  purpose,  and  also  at  his  death  to  be  his  suc- 
cessor to  the  government  and  to  finish  the  work. 
Joshua  had  been  the  chief  man  under  Moses  and 
next  to  him  from  the  start.  He  was  a  man  of 
ability,  and  richly  endowed  with  all  the  cruel  and 
bloodthirsty  qualities  requisite  for  the  terrible 
business  that  was  before  him.  The  army  was  a 
desperate  and  powerful  band  of  robbers  and  mur- 
derers. Neither  Moses,  Joshua,  or  their  army 
had  any  regard  for  justice  or  human  rights.  They 
were  all  alike, — destitute  of  human  feelings  and 
all  moral  principles.  When  ready  to  move,  they 
came  down  upon  the  innocent  and  unoffending 
people  that  were  in  their  way  like  an  army  of 
hungry,  ravenous  wolves  upon  defenseless  sheep, 
and  moved  on  a  remorseless,  heartless,  overwhelm- 
ing flood  of  destruction,  sweeping  away,  cutting 
off,  butchering  and  destroying  every  human  being, 
— man,  woman  and  child, — that  came  in  their 
way.  There  was,  however,  one  remarkable  ex- 
ception to  this,  which  deserves  to  be  mentioned. 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  59 

After  the  army  had  cut  off  and  slain  all  the  men 
of  Midian,  and  was  exhausted  by  its  work  of 
slaughter,  it  appeared  that  there  was  a  large 
number  of  women  and  children  that  had  been 
overlooked  and  were  left  still  alive,  and  the  tired 
soldiers  took  them  prisoners  and  brought  them, 
with  the  prey  and  spoils,  to  Moses.  "  And  Moses 
was  wroth.''  He  was  angry  because  they  had 
not  been  slain,  and  said :  "  Now,  therefore,  kill 
every  male  among  the  little  ones,  and  kill  every 
woman  that  hath  known  man  by  lying  with  him." 
But  all  the  women, — "children — that  hath  not 
known  a  man  by  lying  with  him,  keep  alive  for 
yourselves"  What  a  man  to  claim  companion- 
ship and  direct  intercourse  with  God! 

This  army  utterly  depopulated  all  the  land 
through  which  they  passed,  took  all  property  that 
could  be  moved,  and  left  nothing  behind  them 
but  ruin  and  desolation.  Having  murdered,  cut 
off,  and  destroyed  the  inhabitants  of  Bashan  and 
Moab,  they  seized  all  those  rich  lands,  together 
with  their  flocks  and  herds  and  other  property, 
and  there  they  rested  a  while  from  their  infamous 
labors.  There  Moses  died,  and  the  government 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Joshua. 

In  a  few  days,  Joshua,  with  his  army,  passed 
over  Jordan,  and  began  the  work  of  devastation 
in  Canaan  itself.  He  murdered  thirty-one  kings, 
destroyed  their  kingdoms,  cut  off  and  destroyed 


60  VINDICATION    OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

the  people  with  an  indiscriminate  slaughter,  seized 
all  their  lands  and  property,  and  thus  completed 
the  bloody  work  marked  out  by  Moses.  There 
never  was  a  more  unjust,  cruel,  inhuman  and  in- 
famous act  of  savage  barbarity  perpetrated  by 
any  people  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  The  whole 
scheme  was  projected  by  Moses,  with  utter  disre- 
gard of  justice  and  of  all  human  rights;  and  was 
prosecuted,  carried  on,  and  accomplished  by  crime 
and  bloodshed,  and  with  a  refinement  of  cruelty 
that  shocks  the  moral  sense.  Joshua  was  the  gen- 
eral and  direct  leader  through  it  all,  and  the  pages 
of  history  are  not  stained  with  the  name  of  a  more 
atrocious  robber  and  murderer.  And  yet  people 
are  deluded  by  nothing  but  rank  superstition  into 
the  belief  that  all  this  horrible  work  was  insti- 
gated, ordered  and  directed  by  God  at  the  burn- 
ing bush,  for  the  sole  benefit  of  that  depraved 
horde  of  cut-throats.  It  is  interesting  to  skim 
over  the  pages  of  the  history  of  a  few  succeeding 
years,  and  see  how  this  all  turned  out. 

The  hopes  of  the  children  of  Israel  were  at 
length  realized.  They  were  in  possession  of  the 
land  of  Canaan,  which  Moses  taught  them  to  be- 
lieve that  "God  sware  "  unto  them  for  "  an  ever- 
lasting possession."  Many  of  them  soon  found 
the  service  of  Baal  and  Ashteroth  more  agreeable 
than  that  of  the  God  of  Moses,  and  they  probably 
were  quite  as  real  and  quite  as  good  gods  as  the 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  6 1 

one  represented  or  created  by  Moses.  The  Israel- 
ites lived  there  for  many  years  ;  fought  a  good 
deal  among  themselves,  and  with  neighboring 
peoples  ;  but  they  came  to  be  pretty  well  united 
many  years  after  under  David,  who  made  himself 
popular  among  them.  David  reigned  over  them 
forty  years,  when  he  died  and  left  the  kingdom  to 
his  son,  Solomon,  who,  at  the  time  was  but  a 
young  boy.  ,  However,  he  was  a  very  clever 
youth  ;  he  made  friends  with  all  the  heathen  and 
idolatrous  nations,  far  and  near,  by  marrying  the 
daughters  of  all  their  kings,  and  building  temples 
to  their  gods,  as  well  as  to  Jehovah.  He  engaged 
in  foreign  commerce,  was  very  successful,  and 
brought  precious  metals  to  Jerusalem  in  great 
abundance.  His  tables  were  loaded  with  vessels 
of  gold,  and  he  made  silver  "  plenty  as  stones  in 
the  street";  but  his  fast  life  brought  him  to  an 
early  grave.  He  died  at  the  age  of  about  fifty- 
five,  leaving  seven  hundred  widows  to  mourn  his 
loss,  and  three  hundred  other  women  to  look  for 
other  lovers.  It  is  easy  to  understand  how  such 
a  man,  as  he  saw  his  end  approaching,  might  cry 
out,  with  full  appreciation  of  the  fact,  "  Vanity  of 
vanities, — all  is  vanity/' 

Then  the  kingdom  was  rent  asunder.  Reobo- 
hem,  the  son  of  Solomon,  retained  Jerusalem  with 
the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  perhaps  a  remnant  of 
Benjamin,  afterwards  known  as  "the  Jews"; 


62  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

and  the  other  ten  tribes  (afterwards  known  as 
Israel)  chose  Jerobohan  for  their  king,  and  made 
Schechem  their  capital.  Then  followed  war  and 
fighting  among  this  chosen  seed  of  Abraham  and 
between  themselves, — Israel  against  Judah  and 
Judah  against  Israel, — almost  continually  for  cen- 
turies. The  Israelites  became  quite  idolatrous. 
Then  probably  many  that  were  opposed  to  idol- 
atry migrated  into  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  Rome 
and  Egypt,  and  there  built  synagogues.  Those 
that  remained  were  finally  conquered,  taken  into 
captivity,  and  their  lands  confiscated  by  the  con- 
querors. Judah  held  out  a  little  longer,  but  soon 
after  the  death  of  the  good  Josiah,  who  was  a 
good  man,  Jerusalem  was  also  taken  by  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, and  many  of  the  people  carried  away  into 
captivity;  and  then  all  the  land  of  Canaan,  which 
Moses  said  that  God  sware  unto  the  seed  of 
Abraham  for  "an  everlasting  possession,"  was 
wholly  taken  away  from  them,  became  absorbed 
in  the  great  Persian  Empire,  and  the  seed  of 
Abraham  has  never  since  had  a  country  they 
could  call  their  own.  The  avenging  hand  of 
Justice  was  plainly  visible.  The  land  that  was 
so  unjustly  acquired  by  them  by  crime  and  blood- 
shed was  all  taken  away,  and  the  great  dynasty 
that  was  founded  upon  the  false  and  blasphemous 
pretences  of  Moses  was  shattered,  disintegrated, 
ground  to  powder,  and  the  people  scattered  to  the 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSES.  63 

four  winds  of  heaven.  This  most  just  doom  was 
a  long  time  in  coming  ;  but  it  was  sure  to  come, 
and  it  did  come.  Thus  (to  paraphrase  an  old 
sentiment) : 

"  The  true  God's  mills  grind  slow, 

But  grind  exceeding  small ; 
With  patience  long  he  waits, 
But  surely  grind  they  a//." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

JESUS  OP  NAZARETH. 

ABOUT  1450  years  after  the  death  of  Moses 
another  great  and  better  man  appeared  in  the 
person  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who,  after  his  death, 
became  the  innocent  cause  of  great  changes,  much 
controversy,  violent  conflicts  of  opinion,  and  con- 
siderable trouble.  But  the  legitimate  force  and 
power  of  his  teachings  and  example  have  hitherto 
been  greatly  hampered  and  restrained  by  super- 
stition, but  have  by  no  means  been  exhausted  or 
diminished.  The  great  object  of  his  life  was  not 
to  save  souls  from  a  terrible  hell,  which  had  no 
existence,  but  to  purify  the  morals  of  society, 


64  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

elucidate  and  inculcate  sound  principles,  and  in- 
duce and  promote  the  cultivation  of  true  charity 
among  men;  and  to  the  end  of  time,  and  long  after 
all  false  notions  shall  have  been  entirely  dissipated 
and  passed  away,  he  will  be  admired  and  vene- 
rated as  the  guiding  star  to  all  workers  in  that 
field. 

As  when  a  meteor  flashes  across  the  sky,  we 
involuntarily  turn  to  look  at  it,  let  us  now  pause 
a  while  to  contemplate  the  life  and  character  of 
this  great  and  good  man.  Jesus  was  a  Jew  of 
humble  parentage,  but  possessed  of  a  high  order 
of  intellect,  and  a  clear  and  exalted  conception  of 
moral  principles  and  duties.  He  was  brought  up 
and  educated  in  the  Jewish  faith,  and,  like  other 
children,  naturally  adopted  the  faith  of  his  pa- 
rents. He  sincerely  believed  in  Moses  and  the 
prophets, — never  thought  of  doubting  what  was 
claimed  for  them  by  his  ancestors,  or  that  their 
writings  contained  the  true  revealed  will  and 
commandments  of  the  one  only  living  and  True 
God.  He  supposed  that,  rightly  understood  and 
practiced,  they  contained  everything  that  was 
essential  and  necessary  to  promote  the  well  being 
and  happiness  of  man.  As  he  grew  to  manhood 
he  discovered  great  errors.  He  did  not  mistrust 
that  the  system  was  false,  and  that  that  was  what 
occasioned  the  wrong;  but  thought  they  were 
errors  of  practice  that  had  crept  into  the  system, 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  65 

and  that  they  had  a  bad  effect  and  a  demoralizing 
tendency.  He  saw  that  the  leaders  were  paying 
far  more  attention  to  outside  show — to  forms  and 
ceremonies  and  the  letter  of  the  law — than  to  the 
true  spirit  and  meaning  of  sound  moral  precepts, 
and  he  conceived  it  to  be  his  duty  to  try  to  cor- 
rect them.  He  began  modestly  to  impart  his 
views  to  his  companions  in  the  humbler  walks  of 
life,  but  his  teachings  were  so  pointed  and  forcible 
that  they  attracted  great  attention.  He  spake  as 
they  had  never  before  heard  man  speak.  The 
people  became  deeply  interested,  and  multitudes 
followed  to  listen  to  his  discourses.  His  severe 
censures  and  reproofs  reached  the  ears  of  the 
leaders  of  society,  and  they  felt  the  sting.  The 
proud  Pharisees  were  indignant  that  a  Nazarene 
—  a  person  of  such  low  origin — should  presume 
to  criticise  and  reprove  them;  and  they  were  so 
wrought  up  by  the  fact  that  the  people  were  fol- 
lowing, listening,  believing  and  adopting  his  views 
that  they  determined,  if  possible,  to  put  him  out 
of  the  way.  They  accused  him  of  heresy,  and  an 
attempt  to  subvert  and  destroy  their  system  of 
worship  and  religion,  and  besought  Pilate  to  order 
his  crucifixion.  Pilate,  after  examining  the  case, 
declared  that  he  could  find  no  fault  in  the  man. 
But  they  clamored  so  strongly  that  he  finally, 
with  reluctance,  consented,  washed  his  hands, 
and  gave  him  over  to  them  to  be  crucified ;  which 
they  forthwith  did. 


66  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

After  the  crucifixion,  his  friends  who  had  heard 
his  preaching  knew  that  he  was  as  pure  and  good 
a  man  as  ever  lived,  that  he  had  been  most  cruelly 
and  unjustly  put  to  deatli  ;  and  when  they  saw 
with  what  a  sublime  composure  he  met  the  terri- 
ble ordeal,  they  began  to  think  that  he  was  some- 
thing more  than  human, — that  he  must  have  had 
a  divine  nature.  Soon  stories  were  circulated 
that  his  body  was  missing  from  the  sepulchre,  and 
that  he  had  been  seen  alive;  and  they  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  he  must  be  the  Son  of  God,  that 
he  had  risen  from  the  dead,  and  ascended  into 
heaven.  And,  as  evidence  of  his  divine  nature, 
it  was  rumored  that  while  living  he  had  wrought 
miracles. 

Now  we  may  discard  all  the  claims  in  regard 
to  his  miraculous  origin,  which  he  never  claimed, 
and  the  resurrection.  He  was  too  good  a  man  to 
think  of  imposing  upon  the  people  by  attempting 
to  work  miracles,  and  many  things  were  probably 
interpolated  in  his  biographies,  during  the  thirty 
or  forty  years  that  elapsed  after  the  crucifixion 
before  any  gospel  was  published,  which  had  no 
foundation  in  anything  he  taught  or  did :  but 
his  pure  life,  his  tender  sympathy  for  the  suffer- 
ing, his  noble  charity  for  the  erring,  his  high 
standard  of  morals,  his  nice  distinction  between 
pretense  and  practice,  truth  and  error,  and  be- 
tween hypocrisy  and  charity,  his  famous  sermon, 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MCSKS.  67 

his  plain,  pointed  and  touching  illustrations  of 
truth,  by  his  simple  but  inimitable  parables,  all 
proclaim  a  noble  soul,  and  shine  out  with  a  beauty, 
loveliness  and  sublimity  which  command  the 
respect,  admiration  and  reverence  of  mankind. 
Let  him  be  honored  and  held  in  grateful  remem- 
brance ;  let  the  day  of  his  birth  be  the  most  noted 
of  the  year,  and  let  it  be  celebrated  with  "  songs 
and  dances,"  with  jo/  and  merriment,  eulogy  and 
praise,  till  the  whole  race  of  man  shall  be  brought 
into  sympathy  with  his  true  teachings,  and  the 
practice  of  his  virtues. 

But,  great,  good  and  worthy  as  Jesus  was,  he 
certainly  was  not  the  True  Almighty  God.  He 
never  claimed  to  be.  But  the  unjust  and  cruel 
treatment  he  received  for  teaching  real  truth  and 
true  charity  proves  that  the  groundwork  and 
foundation  of  the  system  that  would  not  listen  to, 
adopt,  sustain  and  practice  such  preaching  was 
false  ;  that  it  did  not  proceed  from,  and  was  not 
founded  or  authorized  by,  the  True  God. 

After  the  crucifixion  a  party  of  Jews,  includ- 
ing the  disciples,  upon  thinking  over  what  Moses 
and  the  prophets  had  written,  concluded  that  this 
Jesus  must  be  the  Christ  that  they  had  dimly 
spoken  of,  that  would  be  born  of  a  Virgin  and 
come  to  redeem  Israel ;  and  that  his  crucifixion 
was  the  end  of  the  law,  and  a  perfect  fulfillment 
of  all  imagined  types  and  of  all  prophesies ;  and 


68  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

tliat  through  him  salvation  had  come  to  a  fallen 
world.  They  became  very  earnest  and  enthusi- 
astic in  this  belief;  and  they  were  not  selfish  about 
it,  either.  They  did  not  claim,  as  Moses  did,  all 
the  benefits  for  their  own  race,  but  placed  the  Gen- 
tiles,— all  mankind, — on  the  same  level  with  them- 
selves, entitled  to  share  equally  in  all  the  blessings. 

Soon,  marvelous  stories  were  circulated  about 
miracles  which  it  was  rumored  that  Jesus  had 
wrought;  and  it  was  claimed  that  he  was  the 
Son  of  God, — begotten  by  God, — and  also  that  he 
had  risen  from  the  dead. 

It  was  easy  enough  to  induce  people  in  that  age 
to  believe  that  Jesus  was  begotten  by  God,  for  in 
those  days  it  was  generally  believed  that  gods  and 
goddesses  had  intercourse  with  mortals.  Greek 
and  Roman  histories  related  many  cases  of  the 
kind,  and  it  was  (as  one  might  &ay)  an  e very-day 
occurrence.  There  had  been  many  instances  on 
earth,  where  divine  and  human  natures  were  be- 
lieved to  have  been  united  in  the  same  person. 
Hence,  it  seemed  no  great  mystery  in  the  case  of 
so  good  a  man  as  Jesus,  and  it  was  readily  believed 
as  a  matter  of  course. 

Belief  of  the  Resurrection  was  more  difficult  to 
establish.  The  evidence  of  that  supposed  event 
is  the  stories  which  are  related  in  the  four  gospels 
attributed  to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke  and  John. 
It  is  by  no  means  certain  who  wrote  any  of  them, 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  69 

or  wlien  or  where  they  were  written,  or  that  they 
now  retain  their  original  shape.  None  of  them 
were  written  in  less  than  from  thirty  to  forty  years 
after  the  Crucifixion.  But  we  will  examine  them 
as  they  now  appear,  and  afterward  speak  of  other 
matters  relating  to  them. 

The  story  contained  in  them  is  substantially  as 
follows  :  In  the  evening  of  the  day  of  the  Cruci- 
fixion, which  was  Friday,  one  Joseph  of  Arama- 
thea,  with  the  permission  of  Pilate,  took  the  body 
of  Jesus.  It  was  then  naked,  for  the  soldiers 
had  stripped  off  the  clothing  and  divided  it  among 
themselves.  This  Joseph  bought  linen,  with  which 
he  enwrapped  the  body,  laid  it  in  a  new  sep- 
ulchre, closed  the  door,  rolled  a  stone  against  it, 
and  departed.  Nothing  further  is  said  or  known 
of  Joseph.  This  left  the  sepulchre  accessible, 
for  the  stone  which  Joseph  rolled  against  the  door 
with  his  own  hands  might  be  rolled  away  by  a 
like  instrumentality. 

Very  early,  as  early  as  sunrise  if  not  earlier,  on 
the  morning  of  the  first  day  of  the  week,  which 
corresponds  with  our  Sunday,  and  consequently 
only  about  thirty-six  hours  after  the  body  was  laid 
in  the  sepulchre,  it  is  related  that  Mary  Magda- 
lene came  to  the  sepulchre,  found  it  open,  and  the 
body  of  Jesus  gone.  It  is  stated  that  she  said  she 
saw  there, Matthew  says, "an  angel";  Mark  says/' a 
young  man";  Luke  says,  "two  young  men";  and 


70  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

John  says,  "«two  angels,"  "  clothed  in  long  white 
garments/'  who  told  her  "  Jesus  is  risen."  On 
turning  to  leave,  she  saw  a  person  that  she  did 
not  recognize.  John  says  she  thought  he  was 
u  the  gardener."  (Of  course,  lie  was  then  clothed. 
Where  did  the  clothes  come  from  ?)  He  spake 
and  called  her  by  name,  and  then,  it  is  said,  u  she 
knew  it  was  Jesus."  And  then,  (according  to 
Matthew,  Mark  and  Luke,)  he  requested  her  to 
"  go  and  tell  his  brethren  who  were  in  the  city, 
and  but  a  little  way  off,  to  go  to  Galilee  and  there 
they  would  see  him."  Mark  says,  that  when 
Mary  came  and  delivered  the  message,  and  told 
them  that  Jesus  was  alive  and  had  been  seen  of 
her,  "they  believed  not ";  Luke  says,  "  her  words 
seemed  as  idle  tales  and  they  believed  them  not." 
Matthew,  alone,  says  that  "  the  disciples  went  to 
Galilee  and  saw  Jesus,"  and  worshiped  (i.  e.,  sa- 
luted) him,  ''but  some  doubled." 

This  comprises  about  all  that  relates  to  what 
Mary  said  and  did,  according  to  Matthew,  Mark, 
and  Luke.  We  have  nothing  direct  from  Mary 
herself.  And  all  that  is  contained  in  those  Gos- 
pels about  her  is  nothing  but  oral  rumors  about 
what  she  said,  from  at  least  thirty  to  forty  years 
before  either  of  them  was  written.  If  her  story 
had  been  true,  it  is  most  likely  there  would  have 
been  more  than  a  casual  street  meeting  between 
them ;  and  'his  mother  and  other  friends  of  the 


AGAINST  THK   GOD   OF   MOSES.  71 

family,  also,  would  certainly  have  received  some 
notice  of  it. 

The  report  that  Jesus  told  her  "  to  tell  his 
brethren  to  go  to  Galilee/'  to  meet  him,  is  absurd. 
The  alleged  meeting  and  conversation  between 
Jesus  and  Mary  was  near  the  sepulchre,  and  on- 
ly a  short  walking  distance  from  where  his  "  breth- 
ren "  were  then  known  to  be.  He  might  have 
gone  to  them,  or  sent  and  invited  them  to  come  to 
him,  or  appointed  some  near-by  place  for  a  meet- 
ing and  seen  them  in  a  few  minutes.  Mary  found 
them  quickly.  And  it  is  wholly  incredible  that 
he  would,  under  the  circumstances,  have  requested 
them  to  go  way  to  Galilee,  which  was  fifty  or  six- 
ty miles  from  where  they  all  then  were,  to  meet 
him.  This  has  a  tendency  to  show  that  there  was 
a  design  on  the  part  of  Mary,  or  some  one  else,  to 
work  a  scheme  and  create  a  false  impression. 

None  of  the  other  evangelists  mention  or  allude 
to  any  such  meeting  in  Galilee,  and  if  what  all 
three  of  them  agree  in  stating  is  true,  no  such 
meeting  could  have  occurred.  For,  in  addition 
to  the  statement  of  Mark  and  Luke,  that  "  the 
brethren "  did  not  believe  Mary,  and,  conse- 
quently, would  not  have  acted  on  her  statement, 
Mark,  Luke  and  John  all  agree  in  saying  that 
there  was  a  meeting  of  "  The  Eleven "  in  the 
evening  of  the  same  day.  that  is,  only  about  for- 
ty-eight hours  after  Jesus  was  laid  in  the  sepul- 


72  VINDICATION   OF  THE   TRUK   GOD 

chre,  at  their  usual  place  of  meeting  in  Jerusa- 
lem ;  and  when  the  door  was  shut,  for  fear  of  the 
Jews,  Jesus  came  and  stood  in  their  midst,  im- 
plying, of  course,  that  he  had  passed  through 
solid  matter  to  get  in. 

And  those  evangelists  also  say  that  when  he 
appeared  "  they  (the  disciples)  were  terrified  and 
affrighted,"  and  supposed  they  had  seen  a  spirit ; 
but  that  he  calmed  their  fears,  and  to  prove  that 
he  was  not  a  spirit,  requested  them  "  to  handle 
him,"  and  said  to  them,  "  A  spirit  hath  not  flesh 
and  bones,  as  ye  see  me  have."  And  to  further 
convince  them  he  called  for  "meat,"  and  ate  some 
"broiled  fish  and  honey  comb"  before  them. 
This  is  a  strange  commingling  of  evidence,  to 
prove, — first,  that  he  was  a  spirit  that  could  pass 
through  solid  matter  without  affecting  it,  and 
immediately  show  that  his  body  was  composed  of 
flesh  and  bones,  and  that  he  could  eat. 

After  this  meeting  Mark  says  he  was  taken  up 
into  heaven,  but  gives  no  particulars.  But  Luke 
says  that  after  the  meeting  "  he  (Jesus)  led  them 
out  as  far  as  Bethany."  This  might  have  been 
rather  late  in  the  evening,  but  could  not  have 
been  more  than  from  fifty  to  fifty-one  or  two 
hours  after  he  was  laid  in  the  sepulchre.  And 
"  there  he  lifted  up  his  hands  and  blessed  them, 
and  while  he  blessed  them  he  was  parted  from 
them,  and  carried  up  into  heaven."  Now  this 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  73 

certainly  is  what  Luke  at  the  time  he  wrote, 
(which  was  about  forty  years  after  the  crucifix- 
ion,) supposed  and  believed  the  fact  to  be.  And 
that  fixes  the  time  when,  it  must  have  been  then, 
at  the  time  lie  wrote,  generally  understood  and 
believed  that  the  ascension  occurred,  in  the  eve- 
ning of  the  second  day  after  the  crucifixion. 
Luke  certainly  never  heard  or  believed  that  Jesus 
was  seen  by  anybody  alive  after  that  evening ; 
nor  did  Matthew  or  Mark,  or  they  would  have 
mentioned  it. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  there  was  a  meet- 
ing of  u  The  Eleven  "  on  that  evening,  to  wit, 
the  evening  of  the  day  of  the  alleged  resurrection. 
It  was  at  the  usual  time  and  place,  when  and 
where  they  were  accustomed  to  meet  and  dine 
together.  And  if,  as  Luke  says,  Jesus  ascended 
on  that  same  evening,  immediately  after  that 
meeting,  the  evidence  is  conclusive  that  the  meet- 
ing in  Galilee  that  Matthew  speaks  of  could  not 
not  have  occurred.  For  it  is  impossible  that  the 
brethren  could  have  gone  to  Galilee,  fifty  miles 
away,  had  a  meeting  there  with  Jesus,  and  re- 
turned so  as  to  be  present  at  that  meeting  in 
Jerusalem  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  and 
immediatelv  after  which  meeting  the  ascension 

ti 

occurred.  This  is  not  a  case  where  different 
witnesses  give  different  accounts  of  the  same 
transactions,  all  of  which  may  be  true ;  but  this 


74  VINDICATION   OF  THE   TRUE   GOD 

is  the  case  of  an  alibi,  where  if  one  statement  be 
true  the  other  cannot  possibly  be  true.  The 
statement  in  Matthew's  gospel,  therefore,  is  cer- 
tainly erroneous.  No  such  meeting  as  there 
spoken  of  could  possibly  have  occurred. 

Yet  Matthew  was  one  of  "  The  Eleven,"  and 
must  have  known  of  the  meeting  in  Jerusalem, 
and  all  that  occurred  at  it.  The  only  solution 
to  the  discrepancy  about  the  meeting  in  Galilee 
is,  that  Matthew  did  not  write  that  part  of  that 
Gospel,  if  any.  It  must  have  been  written  by 
some  one  that  was  not  inspired  as  to  facts. 

It  is  to  be  remarked,  also,  as  affecting  the 
credibility  of  the  gospel  of  Matthew  relating  to 
the  resurrection,  that  it  evinces  too  strong  a  dis- 
position on  the  part  of  the  writer,  whoever  he 
was,  to  ascribe  miraculous  intervention  of  angels 
and  almighty  power,  without  the  least  proof ,  to 
acts  that  were  within  the  power  of  human  agen- 
cies. Therefore  he  gratuitously  assumes  that 
<(  there  was  a  great  earthquake,''  and  that  "  an 
angel  of  the  Lord  descended  from  heaven,  and 
came  and  rolled  away  the  stone  from  the  door, 
and  sat  upon  it."  The  writer  of  that  part  of  the 
gospel  was  not  there, and  could  not  have  known, 
personally,  how  the  stone  was  rolled  away,  or 
what  happened  there.  He  simply  assumes  the 
fact,  without  any  evidence  except,  perhaps,  idle 
gossip ;  and  it  was  evidently  done  to  create  a 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  75 

belief  that  there  were  miraculous  appearances  at 
the  sepulchre.  Whereas,  if  Jesus  could  enter 
the  room  where  his  disciples  were,  while  the 
door  was  shut,  he  might  have  found  his  way  out 
of  the  sepulchre  in  the  same  way,  without  troub- 
ling an  angel  to  roll  back  the  stone,  and  in  spite 
of  the  Roman  guard,  too. 

That  disposition  to  imagine  miracles,  and  heap 
one  upon  another,  probably  had  the  desired  effect 
in  those  days ;  but  as  looked  upon  now  it  has  a 
strong  tendency  to  discredit  the  whole  story. 
Considering,  then,  the  improbability  that  Jesus, 
if  risen,  would  have  sent  a  request  to  his  brethren, 
wlio  were  then  within  a  short  walk  of  him,  to  go 
off  fifty  miles  into  the  country  in  order  to  meet 
him,  together  with  the  fact  that  no  other  evan- 
gelist speaks  of  or  alludes  to  such  a  meeting,  and 
that  there  was  a  meeting  of  The  Eleven  at  Jerusa- 
lem on  the  evening  of  that  day,  we  may  dismiss 
all  that  that  gospel  says  about  the  meeting  in 
Galilee  as  unworthy  of  belief.  As  Matthew  says 
nothing  about  any  other  meeting,  or  of  the  ascen- 
sion, we  may  conclude  that  he,  although  one  of 
"  The  Eleven,"  did  not  know  of  any  meeting  of 
Jesus  with  his  disciples  ;  and  therefore  he  fur- 
nishes no  evidence  touching  the  resurrection,  ex- 
cept his  report  of  the  vague  rumors  about  what 
Mary  Magdalene  said,  with  the  fact  standing  out 
that  the  disciples  did  not  believe  her  when  she 


76  VINDICATION   OF   THK   TRUE 

told  them  that  "Jesus  was  alive,  and  had  been 
seen  of  her." 

The  next  thing  to  be  considered  is  the  meeting 
of  "  The  Eleven"  at  Jerusalem,  on  the  evening  of 
the  day  of  the  alleged  resurrection,  at  which  Mark 
and  Luke  say,  that  while  "  they  sat  at  meat,"  and 
the  door  was  shut,  Jesus  appeared  among  them, 
and  after  the  close  of  that  meeting  ascended  up  to 
heaven.  There  can  be  no  doubt  there  was  a  meet- 
ing of  "  The  Eleven  "  on  that  evening.  It  was  a 
usual  meeting  of  "  The  Eleven,"  where  they  were 
accustomed  to  dine  together.  The  fact  that  there 
was  a  meeting  is  one  thing,  but  what  occurred  at 
the  meeting  is  a  very  different  question.  Neither 
Mark  or  Luke  was  of  "  The  Eleven,"  and  neither 
of  them  was  present  at  that  meeting;  for  it  was 
a  meeting  only  of  "The  Eleven,"  at  their  usual 
dinner  ;  hence,  neither  Mark  nor  Luke  could  have 
had  any  personal  knowledge  of  what  occurred. 
If  they  wrote  the  gospels  attributed  to  them,  they 
did  not  write  until  forty  or  fifty  years  after  the 
supposed  event;  and  then  wrote,  not  what  they 
personally  knew,  but  only  what  others  had  told 
them,  and  do  not  state  from  whom  they  received 
information.  Their  gospels  are  only  the  gather- 
ing up  or  compiling  of  rumors  that  had  been 
floating  about  for  forty  years.  An  effort  has  been 
made  to  show  that  there  was  a  record  from  which 
the  stories  of  the  evangelists  were  taken  ;  but 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  77 

there  is  no  proof  that  any  such  thing  ever  ex- 
isted: therefore,  the  testimony  of  Mark  and  Luke 
as  to  what  occurred  at  that  meeting  is  at  best 
only  the  hearsay  evidence  of  floating  rumors. 

Matthew  was  one  of  "  The  Eleven,"  and  must 
have  been  at  that  meeting,  and  must  have  known 
what  took  place  ;  and  the  fact  that  he  does  not 
mention  or  allude  to  it  is  strong  evidence  that 
nothing  occurred  at  the  meeting  out  of  the  ordin- 
ary course  of  things  at  their  dinners.  If  Jesus 
had  appeared,  and  all  those  remarkable  things 
had  followed  that  Mark  and  Luke  speak  of,  they 
could  not  have  been  forgotten,  and  Matthew  cer- 
tainly would  have  said  something  about  them. 
This  negative  evidence,  this  silence  of  Matthew 
and  others  of  "The  Eleven,"  who  must  have 
known  all  that  happened  at  that  meeting,  is  of 
far  more  weight  than  the  testimony  of  Mark  and 
Luke,  who  were  net  present,  and  did  not  personally 
know  what  took  place,  but  recorded  only  what 
they  had  heard  from  others.  So  that,  in  fact, 
there  is  no  reliable  evidence  thus  far  that  either 
the  meeting  in  Galilee  took  place,  or  that  Jesus 
appeared  to  his  disciples  at  the  meeting  in  Jerusa- 
lem, on  the  evening  of  the  day  of  the  alleged 
resurrection,  or  at  any  other  time  or  place. 

And  it  must  not  be  lost  sight  of,  that  these 
gospels  were  not  hurriedly  written,  on  the  spur  of 
the  moment,  immediately  after  the  happening  of 


78  VINDICATION    OF  THE  TRUE   GOD 

the  events  they  pretend  to  record  ;  but  the  writers 
all  had  at  least  from  thirty  to  forty  years  to  think 
over  what  they  would  write.  The  probability  is 
that  they  wrote  personally  only  a  part,  if  any,  of 
what  is  attributed  to  them,  and  that  the  originals 
were  afterwards  changed  and  altered,  by  additions, 
interpolations  and  excisions,  by  unknown  and  irre- 
sponsible hands,  into  the  shape  in  which  they  now 
appear ;  and  we  have  no  reliable  knowledge  of 
what  they  in  fact  originally  wrote.  At  the  best, 
all  those  gospels  are  only  compilations  of  floating 
rumors.  This  covers  all  that  is  said  about  the 
resurrection  in  the  gospels  of  Matthew,  Mark  and 
Luke, — all  the  so-called  synoptic  gospels ;  and 
our  verdict  on  that  evidence  must  be  Not  proved. 
The  gospel,  according  to  John,  agrees  with 
Mark  and  Luke  about  the  meeting  at  Jerusalem 
on  the  evening  of  the  day  of  the  alleged  resurrec- 
tion, and  says  there  was  another  pieeting  eight  days 
after,  at  which  Jesus  appeared  in  the  same  way 
that  he  is  said  to  have  appeared  at  the  first  meet- 
ing, and  convinced  Thomas,  who  was  not  pres- 
ent at  the  first  meeting.  If  this  is  true,  it  would 
disprove  what  Luke  says  about  the  ascension  : 
and  if  this  second  meeting  occurred,  at  which 
Jesus  appeared,  Matthew  and  the  rest  of  "The 
Eleven  "  must  have  known  of  it,  and  Mark  and 
Luke  must  at  least  have  heard  of  it,  and  some  of 
them  would  have  spoken  of  it.  But  neither  Mark, 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSiiS.  79 

Luke,  Matthew  nor  Thomas,  nor  any  other  of 
"  The  Eleven,"  says  a  word  about  it,  and  that  fact 
is  strong  evidence  that  no  such  thing  occurred. 

Besides,  if  John's  gospel  is  to  be  credited,  it 
would  prove  that  the  disciples  did  not  think  it 
important  to  stay  around  Jerusalem,  and  try  to 
have  more  meetings  with  Jesus,  for  six  or  seven 
of  them  got  up  a  fishing  excursion  and  went  up  to 
the  Sea  of  Tiberias,  sixty  miles  from  Jerusalem, 
a-fishiug.  There  they  took  a  ship,  went  out  and 
toiled  all  night,  and  caught  nothing.  In  the 
morning,  being  only  two  or  three  hundred  feet 
from  land,  they  saw  a  man  on  shore  that  they  did 
not  recognize,  who  hailed  them  arid  asked  if  they 
had  u  any  meat,"  (meaning,  Had  they  caught 
any  fish  ?)  They  replied,  «  No."  He  then  told 
them  to  cast  their  net  on  the  right  side  of  the 
ship.  They  did  so,  and  immediately  the  net  was 
filled  with  fishes,  and  to  such  an  extent  that  they 
could  not  draw  it  aboard  the  vessel ;  so  they 
dragged  it  ashore  and  found  they  had  caught  "  a 
hundred  and  fifty-three  "  large  fishes.  Then  they 
saw  a  fire  of  coals  burning,  and  fish  laid  thereon. 
Presently,  the  stranger  said  to  them,  "Come  and 
dine."  None  of  them  durst  ask  him,  "  Who  art 
thou?  for  they  knew  it  was  Jesus."  This  state- 
ment contradicts  itself,  for  it  is  evident  they  did 
not  recognize  him  as  Jesus.  "  He  took  bread  and 
gave  them,  and  fish  also."  Then  the  Evan- 


80  VINDICATION   OF   THK   TRUE   GOD 

gelist  says,  "  This  is  now  the  third  time  that  Jesus 
showed  himself  to  his  disciples  after  that  he  was 
risen  from  the  dead."  This,  of  course,  reads  out 
Matthew's  account  of  a  meeting  in  Galilee.  For, 
although  the  Sea  of  Tiberias  is  in  Galilee,  the 
meeting  at  the  seaside  does  not  correspond  in  any 
manner  with  the  meeting  that  Matthew  speaks  of. 
Now  this  covers  all  that  is  said  in  the  four  gos- 
pels upon  the  alleged  resurrection. 

This  last  story  attributed  to  John,  in  its  details, 
circumstances  and  surroundings,  smacks  a  little 
too  much  of  the  business  the  disciples  were  then 
engaged  in.  The  idea  that  Jesus  followed  and  ap- 
peared to  them  on  that  fishing  excursion,  and 
acted  in  the  manner  detailed,  was  a  little  too  much 
for  the  early  fathers  of  the  Church  to  swallow,  and 
they  did  not  believe  that  John,  the  "beloved  dis- 
ciple/' had  anything  to  do  with  that  gospel,  not- 
withstanding it  is  said  in  the  24th  verse  of  the  last 
chapter,  "  This  is  the  disciple  which  testifieth  of 
these  things  and  wrote  these  things."  It  is  sup- 
posed that  that  was  falsely  added  to  enhance  its 
credit. 

John,  the  disciple,  was  over  ninety  years  old 
when  the  gospel  was  written,  and  was  very  decrep- 
it in  mind  and  body.  But  there  was  another  John 
at  Ephesus,  where  the  disciple  was  stationed, 
known  as  John  the  elder.  And  it  was  believed 
by  those  then  in  a  position  to  judge,  that  this 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OK   MOSKS.  8 1 

John  the  elder,  and  several  other  persons  acting 
with  him,  compiled  that  gospel  from  oral  tradi- 
tions that  had  come  to  their  ears  during  the  sixty 
years  following  the  crucifixion,  and  that  John  the 
disciple  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  It  was  a  final 
compilation  of  all  vague  rumors,  and  the  setting 
forth  of  certain  mystic  mythical  mysteries  which 
were  then  considered  necessary  to  perfect  a  sys- 
tem of  religion.  But  learned  critics,  knowing  the 
great  age  and  decrepit  condition  of  the  Apostle 
John  at  the  time  it  was  written,  after  closely  com- 
paring the  style  with  his  other  known  writings., 
and  taking  all  the  circumstances  into  considera- 
tion, came  to  the  conclusion  that  John  the  disci- 
ple did  not  write  it ;  and  the  early  fathers  of  the 
Church  did  not  receive  and  credit  it  as  having 
been  written  or  authorized  by  him.  But  after  one 
or  two  handred  years,  however,  it  was  canonized 
by  the  Christians,  and  declared  by  them  to  be  in- 
spired. It  suited  the  then  prevailing  notions. 
That  is  the  way  they  manufactured  evidence  in 
those  days.  But  this  fact  can  amount  to  nothing 
in  the  eye  of  reason  and  common  sense.  Suffi- 
cient doubt  and  uncertainty  are  cast  upon  it  to 
destroy  it  as  credible  and  convincing  evidence 
to  prove  such  a  miracle  as  the  resurrection. 

A  similar  doubt  and  uncertainty  shade  all  the 
other  gospels.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  none 
of  them  are  in  exactly  their  original  shape,  and 


82  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

there  is  no  knowing  when,  where,  or  by  whom 
they  were  written,  or  how  much  they  have  been 
changed  since  they  were  first  written.  Then, 
assuming  that  John  the  disciple  did  not  write  the 
gospel  attributed  to  him,  and  excepting  what  is 
said  in  Matthew's  gospel  about  a  meeting  in 
Galilee,  which  cannot  possibly  be  true,  we  have  no 
account  of  any  meeting  of  Jesus  with  his  dis- 
ciples after  the  crucifixion  that  was  either  written 
or  sanctioned  by  any  of  "  The  Eleven,"  or  any 
body  that  was  present,  and  an  eye  witness  of  any 
such  meeting.  No  one  that  pretended  personally 
to  have  seen  him  or  heard  him  talk  has  written  a 
word  on  the  subject.  All  we  have  is  a  gathering 
up  and  compiling  by  outside  parties  of  vague 
rumors,  not  written  and  published  till  forty  years 
after  the  crucifixion.  Peter  and  James  wrote 
epistles,  but  neither  says  a  word  about  any  of  the 
meetings  that  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  or  John 
speak  of.  And  all  that  the  enthusiastic  Paul  says 
on  the  subject  of  Jesus  being  seen  by  any  body 
is  obviously  only  hearsay.  The  superstitious  ele- 
ments in  his  nature,  as  in  millions  of  other  people 
before  and  since,  induced  him  to  believe  great 
miracles  on  a  kind  of  evidence  that  would  not  be 
admitted  to  prove  an  allegation  in  a  suit  at  law. 
About  seventy-six  years  before  the  crucifixion 
the  greatest  and  one  of  the  best  of  mortals  was 
most  ignominiously  stabbed  to  death  by  senators 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  83 

on  the  floor  of  the  Roman  Senate  chamber.  This 
monstrous  crime  appalled  society,  and  aroused  all 
the  inventive  powers  of  superstition  to  the  high- 
est pitch.  Community  was  filled  with  rumors  of 
miraculous  events, — prodigies  in  the  sky,  among 
the  stars ;  strange  and  unnatural  appearances  in 
the  entrails  of  animals  offered  in  sacrifice  ;  and  it 
was  also  believed 

"  That  graves  stood  tenantless,  and  the  sheeted  dead 
Did  squeak  and  gibber  in  the  Roman  streets." 

A  similar  shock  was  experienced  by  his  friends, 
when  the  pure  and  lovely  Jesus  was  suddenly 
snatched  from  them,  and  cruelly,  brutally  cruci 
fied  before  their  eyes.  Then  again  frenzied  su- 
perstition imagined  and  believed  that  there  were 
miraculous  occurrences, — that  there  were  earth- 
quakes in  divers  places,  that  rocks  were  rent,  and 
"that  graves  were  opened,  and  that  many  bodies 
of  saints  that  slept  arose,  and  came  out  of  the 
graves,  and  went  into  the  Holy  City,  and  appeared 
unto  many."  [  Vide  Matt,  xxvii :  52,  53.]  None 
of  those  saints,  however,  were  ever  identified. 
Such  were  the  wild  assumptions  and  beliefs  of  a 
superstitious  people,  smarting  under  that  terrible 
affliction.  The  friends  of  Jesus  believed  that  he 
rose  from  the  dead  and  ascended  up  to  heaven, 
and  there  became  a  God.  And  so  the  Romans 
before  them  believed  that  the  Great  Ca3sar  as- 
cended up  to  heaven  and  became  a  God,  as  many 


84  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

a  great  hero  before  him  had  done.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  determine  what  could  be  too  absurd  and 
preposterous  for  superstition  to  imagine  and  be- 
lieve, under  such  or  similar  circumstances  ;  it  is 
simply  a  psychological  mystery. 

The  same  kind  of  superstitious  belief  may  be 
traced  in  all  ages  to  the  present  time.  There  is 
liardly  a  city  or  important  town  in  this  country, 
or  perhaps  in  the  world,  but  has  some  legend  or 
remarkable  story  about  some  house  or  locality 
being  haunted  ;  thousands  of  good  people  believe 
in  ghosts,  strange  apparitions  of  persons  that  have 
been  murdered  or  unjustly  put  to  death.  The 
same  kind  of  stones  were  probably  fabricated  by 
his  superstitious  friends  about  Jesus,  and  were  the 
foundation,  and  all  the  foundation  there  ever  was, 
for  all  that  has  since  been  said  about  his  resur- 
rection. But  all  of  them  lack  reasonable  proof. 
When  fairly  sifted  down,  it  will  be  found  that 
there  is  nothing  to  support  them  but  hearsay  evi- 
dence and  vague  rumors,  like  all  ghost  stories 
among  a  superstitious  people,  in  a  superstitious 
age,  frenzied  and  distracted  by  the  cruel  death  of 
a  very  dear  and  most  worthy  friend.  Hence,  to 
sum  it  all  up,  there  is  no  fairly  credible  and  con- 
vincing evidence  that  Jesus  was  ever  seen  alive  by 
any  one  after  the  crucifixion  ;  no  evidence  of  a 
kind  that  would  sustain  an  allegation  of  fact  in  a 
Court  of  Justice,  let  alone  the  miraculousness  of 
the  question  here  involved. 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  85 

Jesus  was  a  firm  believer  in  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  and  as  the  existence  of  Hell,  and  a  great 
personal  Devil,  who  once  lived  in  Heaven,  was 
not  at  all  recognized  in  their  system,  it  is  incred- 
ible that  Jesus  should  have  had  any  such  belief 
in  regard  to  them  as  is  indicated  in  the  gospels. 
All  that  is  said  or  alluded  to  about  them  in  the 
gospels,  as  coming  from  or  pertaining  to  Jesus, 
was  probably  inserted  and  interwoven  after  his 
death,  without  any  authority  from  him,  or  from 
any  of  his  real  teachings.  They  doubtless  were  all 
unauthorized  fabrications,  designed  to  support 
the  new  doctrine  in  regard  to  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  which  the  Christians  after  the  crucifix- 
ion received  from  the  Gentiles  ;  and  they  created 
the  Devil  and  Hell  to  supply  the  place  of  the 
heathen  Pluto  and  Hades,  which  were  not  terri- 
ble and  fearful  enough  to  suit  them.  It  is  true 
that  about  the  time  the  Greeks  began  to  preach 
immortality,  that  a  sect  arose  among  the  Jews 
called  the  Pharisees,  who  believed  in  a  resurrec- 
tion, while  the  Sadducees  did  not.  But  none  of 
these  things  disturbed  the  even  working  of  the 
regular  Hebraic  system.  They  were  all  separate, 
private,  personal,  and  individual  concerns  ;  and 
it  may  well  be  that  on  this  question  Jesus  adopt- 
ed the  belief  of  the  Pharisees.  But  they  did  not 
go  so  far  as  to  imagine  a  big  personal  Devil,  or  a 
future  terrible  Hell.  That  was  all  the  work  of 


86  VINDICATION   OF  THE  TRUE   GOD 

the  Christians,  long  after  the  death  of  Jesus,  and 
he  is  not  responsible  for  them. 

Considering  then  the  facts,  that  the  gospels  are 
only  compilations  of  vague  rumors,  oral  traditions 
and  legends,  that  none  of  them  were  compiled  in 
less  than  from  thirty  to  forty  years  after  the  cru- 
e"ifixion,  that  the  authors  are  not  known  to  a  cer- 
tainty, that  the  originals  have  undoubtedly  been 
greatly  changed  by  additions,  interpolations,  and 
excisions;  the  improbabilities,  inconsistencies,  and 
contradictions  contained  in  them,  we  must  con- 
clude that  they  constitute  but  a  very  frail  found- 
ation on  which  to  build  a  belief  of  such  a  miracle 
as  the  resurrection. 

It  is  contended  by  some  that  many  things  are 
purposely  left  obscure,  uncertain  and  doubtful,  to 
give  rn  opportunity  to  exercise  faith.  Faith  in 
what?  Faith  in  what  never  happened  ?  Faith  in 
what  is  not  and  cannot  be  proved?  Faith  in  con- 
fused, inconsistent  stories  about  miracles  ?  Faith 
in  wild,  flying  rumors?  Faith  in  absurd  and  im- 
probable stories,  which  it  was  rumored  that  a  wo- 
man told  forty  years  before  any  of  them  were  put 
in  writing?  A  woman,  too,  out  of  whom  it  was 

O  '  ' 

said  seven  devils  had  been  cast,  and  might  have  had 
many  more  left?  If  faith  is  such  a  predominant, 
all-overriding,  supreme  virtue,  suppose  we  turn 
the  tables  a  little,  and  say  :  I  have  faith  in  God, 
faith  in  his  integrity,  faith  that  he  is  ever  true  to 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  87 

himself  and  his  own  character,  faith  that  he  keeps 
his  laws  and  the  laws  of  nature  inviolate,  faith 
that  he  would  not  allow  them  to  be  violated,  brok- 
en, and  set  at  naught  to  work  miracles.  How 
would  that  kind  of  faith  answer?  Such  a  faith, 
it  seems,  does  not  answer  the  purposes  of  religion 
and  never  did.  Religion  is  not  satisfied  with  faith 
in  God.  Plis  glorious  works  and  ways,  the  even, 
constant  and  sublime  working  of  his  laws,  are  not 
sufficient  for  the  purposes  of  religion.  Religion 
requires  that  those  laws  shall  be  reversed,  broken, 
violated.  It  calls  for  Miracles — Miracles — that  is 
the  only  food  that  will  sustain  religion.  It  must 
have  miracles,  and  not  real  miracles  either.  They 
would  not  answer  the  entire  purpose  so  well.  It 
must  be  faith  in  absurd  and  ridiculous  rumors  of 
miracles,  invented  by  priests  and  designing  per- 
sons to  foster  superstition.  This  kind  of  mira- 
cles is  better  than  the  pure  article,  —  Faith  in 
Moses,  faith  in  the  prophets,  and  faith  in  all  suc- 
ceeding impostors,  faith  in  the  everlasting  tor- 
ments of  unbelievers  ;  that  is  what  religion  feeds 
on,  that  is  its  life-blood,  the  vitalizing  principle, 
what  it  depends  upon  for  its  support,  and  it  can- 
not live  without  it.  True  faith  in  the  True  God 
would  give  a  sure  death-blow  to  it  all. 

Besides,  if  the  resurrection  were  a  fact,  and  it 
was  important  that  mankind  should  believe  it,  in- 
finite wisdom  and  goodness  certainly  would  not 


88  VINDICATION   OF  THE   TRUH  GOD 

have  left  the  proof  of  it  to  vague  and  uncertain 
rumors,  inconsistent  and  contradictory  oral  reports, 
to  be  gathered  up  from  doubtful  sources,  and  not 
published  till  forty  years  after  the  event.  He 
would  have  adopted  some  more  certain,  convincing 
and  adequate  means  to  prove  and  establish  the 
fact  beyond  doubt  or  cavil.  It  is  not  pretended 
that  Jesus  made  any  attempt  to  show  himself  ex- 
cept to  Mary  Magdalene  and  his  disciples, —  all 
interested  friends.  He  did  not  even  notice  his 
mother.  And  all  the  meetings  he  is  represented 
to  have  had  with  his  disciples,  setting  aside  all 
the  uncertainties,  inconsistencies,  and  contradic- 
tions in  the  stories,  were  in  the  night;  all  secret, 
clandestine,  and  miraculous  of  themselves.  The 
ascension  was  in  the  night.  It  is  not  stated  where 
he  lodged  or  kept  himself  during  the  intervals  of 
those  meetings,  if  there  was  more  than  one,  or 
that  there  was  any  effort  made  to  see  more  of  him. 
But  after  the  second  meeting  that  John  speaks  of, 
as  it  appears  from  that  gospel,  not  regarding  the 
fact  that  he  was  somewhere  about  Jerusalem, 
seven  of  them  went  off  to  the  Sea  of  Tiberias, 
sixty  miles  away,  on  a  fishing  excursion. 

Jesus  certainly  could  not  have  had  any  fear  of 
anything  more  that  man  could  do  unto  him,  and 
he  might  have  gone  boldly  to  Pilate,  who  was 
kindly  disposed  toward  him,  and  convinced  him  ; 
or  he  might  have  gone  into  the  temple  or  the 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  89 

synagogues,  and  publicly  proclaimed  his  resurrec- 
tion. In  some  such  way  the  fact  might  have 
been  proved  and  established  beyond  a  doubt,  in 
the  presence  of  disinterested  witnesses.  As  he  is 
represented  in  the  gospels,  he  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  inclined  to  show  himself  at  Jerusalem 
to  anybody  but  this  Mary  Magdalene  and  his  dis- 
ciples, at  night,  and  in  a  very  secret  and  mysteri- 
ous manner ;  did  not  even  call  upon  his  mother. 
This  shunning  and  avoiding  everybody  else,  all 
open  public  demonstrations,  and  neglecting  to  put 
himself  in  the  way  to  have  the  fact  then  and  there 
established  by  disinterested,  straight-forward, 
sure  and  convincing  evidence,  and  an  abundance 
of  it,  is  strong  proof  that  he  did  not  rise  from  the 
dead. 

It  has  been  cunningly  argued  that  any  such 
attempt  to  convince  the  Pharisees  or  Sadducees 
would  have  been  useless,  because  they  were  pre- 
determined not  to  believe,  did  not  want  to  believe, 
and  would  not  have  believed  under  any  circum- 
stances. With  all  due  deference,  (which  is  very 
small,)  it  may  be  boldly  and  confidently  asserted 
that  there  was  not  then  living:  a  human  being  of 

o  o 

ordinary  intelligence,  from  the  cruel  and  beastly 
Emperor  then  on  the  throne,  down  to  the  hum- 
blest Roman  citizen,  nor  a  Pharisee  or  Sadduccc, 
or  anybody  else,  who  would  not  have  been 
more  than  glad  to  be  convinced  of  a  resurrection 


9O  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

of  the  dead.  There  is  nothing  which  mankind 
could  be  so  delighted  and  so  rejoiced  to  know. 
Everything  else  would  have  dwindled  into  insig- 
nificance in  comparison  with  it.  Crowns  and 
scepters  would  have  been  right  willingly  thrown 
down,  and  the  kingdom  of  Christ  would  have 
been  at  once  established  throughout  the  whole 
world. 

In  the  entire  absence  of  all  such  proof,  the  un- 
certain, inconsistent,  and  contradictory  compila- 
tions of  the  rumors,  gossips,  verbal  reports,  and 
stories  that  were  floating  about  and  accumulating 
in  a  superstitious  age  for  forty  years  next  follow- 
ing the  'rucifixion,  are  not  sufficient  to  warrant 
the  belief  of  such  a  miracle  as  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  from  the  dead.  So,  if  he  in  fact  rose  from  the 
dead,  and  ascended  into  heaven,  he  certainly  did 
not  leave  behind  him  any  reasonably  fair  convinc- 
ing evidence  of  it,  nor  has  he  furnished  any  since. 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  91 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  DEVIL,  HELL,  AND  THE  SCHEME 
OF  REDEMPTION. 

WHETHER  true  or  false,  the  doctrine  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception,  Resurrection,  and  Ascen- 
sion gained  believers  among  the  faithful  Jews. 
Its  advocates  scrutinized  and  expounded  the  writ- 
ings of  Moses  and  the  prophets,  and  claimed  to 
prove  by  them  that  Jesus  must  be  the  Christ,  the 
one  that  Moses  saw  by  faith,  as  was  said,  who 
wquld  bruise  the  head  of  the  Serpent ;  that  he 
was  born  of  a  Virgin,  that  it  was  necessary  for  him 
to  suffer  crucifixion  as  he  had  done,  and  that  he 
would  build  up  a  new  and  better  kingdom.  It 
was  all  claimed  to  be  founded  upon  the  Mosaic 
dispensation,  and  evolved  directly  from  it,  and 
depended  wholly  upon  the  belief  that  the  God 
which  Moses  had  set  up  was  the  only  living  and 
True  God  —  the  same  one  he  saw  on  Mount  Sinai, 
and  had  daily  interviews  with  in  Egypt  and 
through  the  wilderness,  and  that  promised  to  assist 
the  Israelites  to  murder  and  cut  off  all  of  the  in 
habitants  of  Canaan,  and  give  them  all  their  land, 
and  who  had  all  the  traits  of  human  character 
which  Moses  and  his  followers  ascribed  to  him. 


92  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

He  had  always  been  a  true,  faithful,  and  ex- 
elusive  God  of  the  Israelites.  But  now  he  had 
become  a  father,  had  a  son  of  his  own  named 
Jesus,  and,  thenceforth,  he  would  favor  and  be 
the  God  of  those  only,  whether  Jew  or  Gentile, 
who  would  believe  that  this  Jesus  was  his  son, 
was  the  true  Christ  spoken  of  by  the  prophets, 
and  would  join  heart  and  hand  to  help  him  to 
build  up  a  kingdom  on  earth. 

In  a  little  while,  a  belief  in  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  and  future  rewards  and  punishments, 
were  engrafted  on  the  system.  This  was  not  in 
the  Mosaic  system,  and  evidently  was  never 
thought  of  by  Moses,  nor  did  he  pretend  that 
God  ever  spoke  of  it  to  him.  It  has  been  claimed 
that  life  and  immortality  were  brought  to  light 
through  the  gospel.  But  this  is  a  mistake ;  for 
immortality  and  future  rewards  and  punishments 
had  been  taught  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans  for 
centuries,  and  some  of  the  derni-gods  that  were 
rumored  to  have  lived  on  earth  were  permitted  to 
visit  the  home  of  departed  souls.  So  this  doctrine 
came  bodily  from  the  Gentile  believers  in  Jesus, 
and  as  the  supposed  resurrection  and  ascension 
of  Jesus  seemed  to  prove  it,  it  was  adopted  with- 
out objection. 

While  the  Christians  were  contented  to  receive 
the  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and 
future  rewards  and  punishments,  from  the  heathen 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  93 

Gentiles,  they  were  not  satisfied  to  accept  their 
Hades  for  a  hell  or  their  Pluto  for  a  devil ;  Hades 
was  too  near  by,  somewhere  under  Italy,  or  there- 
abouts, and  all  departed  souls  had  to  go  there  in- 
discriminately, and,  by  a  very  fair  and  impartial 
judge,  were  assigned  to  different  places,  according 
to  real  merit.  Then  Pluto  was  not  a  devil,  by 
any  means.  He  was  a  God, —  with  good  family 
connections, —  was  a  brother  of  Jupiter  and  Nep- 
tune, on  good  terms  with  both,  and  behaved  him- 
self just  as  well  as  other  gods.  Hades  was  his 
kingdom.  He  had  no  such  gorgeous  throne  as 
Satan  had  in  his  Hell,  which,  for  splendor, 

"  far  . 
Outshone  the  wealth  of  Ormus  and  of  Ind," 

but  a  plain,  modest  throne,  made  of  sulphur,  (i.  e., 
brimstone,)  and  it  was  not  on  fire  ;  there  was  no 
lake  of  fire  and  brimstone  anywhere  about. 

Such  things  would  not  answer  the  purposes  of 
the  Christians.  It  was  necessary  for  them  to 
have  a  real,  big,  earnest  Devil,  and  a  remote,  ter- 
rible lake  of  fire  and  brimstone  for  a  Hell,  to  scare 
sinners,  and  make  them  shell  out  money  to  sup- 
port the  church,  and  pray  their  souls  out  of  the 
clutches  of  the  Devil  after  death.  As  Moses  had 
made  no  mention  of  his  creation,  and  given  no  hint 
of  the  existence  of  any  such  place  as  Hell,  they 
had  to  invent  and  create  those  things  for  them- 
selves and  for  their  own  use.  And  as  they  had 


94  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

it  all  in  their  own  power  and  did  all  the  work, 
they  made  a  Hell  and  a  Devil  just  to  suit  them- 
selves. 

How,  when,  where,  and  by  whom  this  business 
was  first  started  is  involved  in  mystery.  There 
were  Grecian  scholars  among  the  Christians  who 
were  familiar  with  the  mythological  accounts  of 
the  wars  of  the  Titans  against  Saturn,  and  of  the 
Giants  against  Jupiter,  and  they  undoubtedly  em- 
ployed this  knowledge  and  their  ingenuity  to 
Christianize  those  legends,  and  with  them  fabri- 
cate the  story  that  there  had  been  a  war  in  the 
Christian  heavBn.  The  manner  in  which  it  is  re- 
ported to  have  been  carried  on,  and  the  style  of 
fighting,  are  so  identical  with  the  mythological 
battles,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  one  was 
suggested  by  the  other,  and  that  both  had  the 
same  heathen  origin. 

It  was  readily  perceived  that  such  a  war  would 
be  a  very  good  way  to  create  a  terrible  Hell,  a 
first-class  Devil,  and  lay  a  good  foundation  for  a 
great  scheme  of  redemption  ;  hence,  the  idea  was 
adopted  as  a  necessary  part  of  the  Christian  faith. 
And,  in  fact,  it  was  the  most  important  part  of  it, 
for  without  it  they  could  have  no  Hell,  no  Devil, 
and  a  scheme  of  salvation  could  have  no  founda- 
tion, nothing  to  act  upon,  and  would  be  as  useless 
as  a  sawmill  in  a  treeless  desert,  where  there  could 
be  nothing  to  saw.  The  main  ideas  were  seized 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF  MOSES.  95 

and  acted  upon,  but  the  complete  legend  was  a 
long  time  in  forming  and  assuming  definite  shape. 

At  length,  however,  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  ago,  John  Milton,  a  learned  man,  stud-  . 
ied  it  out.  and  perfected  the  form  and  shape  of 
the  tradition  in  precisely  the  same  way  that  all 
the  traditions  which  Moses  relates  were  original- 
ly formed  by  himself  and  his  ignorant  ancestors  ; 
and  that  was  by  drawing  upon  the  imagination 
for  facts,  while  Milton  was  aided  by  heathen  my- 
thology for  his  imagery. 

The  "  Paradise  Lost"  has  great  merit  as  a 
poem.  It  shows  extensive  learning,  great  intel- 
lectual ability,  and  a  poetic  genius  in  its  author 
that  has  not  been  excelled  but  by  a  very  few,  if 
any.  But  the  story  is  a  pure  fiction,  an  inge- 
nious twisting  and  contortion  of  Grecian  mythol- 
ogy, and  has  no  more  foundation  in  fact  and 
truth  than  the  stories  in  the  Arabian  Nights,  or 
any  other  work  of  pure  fiction  ;  yet  it  is  believed 
by  many  to  be  God's  truth. 

It  is  of  great  importance  to  examine  this  story 
thoroughly  and  seriously,  for  on  it  is  founded  all 
there  is  of  Hell,  a  personal  Devil,  and  the  great 
scheme  of  Redemption,  that  is  so  much  talked 
about.  It  is  the  only  story  that  fully  accounts 
for  the  origin  of  any  such  things,  and  without  it 
they  could  not  possibly  have  any  standing  or 
foundation  whatever.  Besides,  this  story  of  Mil- 


g6  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

ton  has  been,  and  probably  is  now,  believed    by 
the  Christian  world  as  fully  and  implicitly  as  any 
of  the  traditions  that  Moses  relates,  and  is  doubt- 
just  as  true,  and  just  as  worthy  of  belief. 

As  the  story  goes,  somewhere  about  the  time- 
God  is  said  to  have  placed  Adam  and  Eve  in  the 
Garden  of  Eden,  a  terrible  war  broke  out  in 
heaven.  A  few  discontented  spirits  raised  a  great 
rebellion  in  those  celestial  regions,  with  the  dire 
intent  to  dethrone  God,  usurp  his  government, 
and  reign  in  his  stead.  The  principal  leaders  in 
this  conspiracy  were  Satan,  Moloch,  Belial,  Mam- 
mon and  Beelzebub,  who  up  to  that  time  had  been 
the  boon  companions,  and  stood  very  high  in  the 
favor  of  God.  Their  power  and  influence  may 
be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  they  are  said  to 
have  drawn  to  their  side  one-third  of  all  the 
powers  and  hosts  of  heaven. 

The  armies  on  both  sides  were  very  soon  mar- 
shalled, thoroughly  drilled,  and  fully  prepared  for 
the  great  struggle.  Their  arms,  of  course,  con- 
sisted for  the  most  part  of  spirit  weapons,  spirit 
swords  and  lances,  and  spirit  engines  and  artil- 
lery ;  but  during  the  battle  it  is  said  that  God's 
warriors  u  seized  hills  and  mountains  by  their 
shaggy  tops,*'  tore  them  up  from  their  roots,  and 
hurled  them  at  their  enemies  just  as  the  warriors 
of  Saturn  and  Jupiter  did.  After  some  skirmish- 
ing the  armies  met  in  earnest,  and  fought  with 


AGAINST  THK  GOD  OF  MOSES.  97 

most  determined  bravery  and  courage  on  both 
sides.  The  chances  of  victory  varied  from  time 
to  time,  sometimes  on  one  side  and  then  on  the 
other.  The  battle  raged  for  three  days  ;  but  at 
length  on  the  third  day  God's  dear  Son,  4<  grasp- 
ing ten  thousand  thunders,"  made  a  desperate 
charge  in  person  upon  the  enemy,  and  single- 
handed  and  alone  drove  them  all  out  over  the 
battlements  of  heaven  into  open  space,  where 
there  was  nothing  to  lodge  against  or  fall  upon. 
Consequently  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  fall. 
So  they  fell,  and  kept  on  falling  for  nine  days, 
and  from  that  circumstance  they  are  known  and 
called  "  fallen  spirits,"  "fallen  angels,"  etc.  In 
nine  days  the  momentum  ceased  and  they  came 
to  a  halt,  and  the  place  where  they  are  supposed 
to  have  stopped  is  called  Hell.  The  world  has 
been  filled  with  most  awful  stories  about  it. 
Poets  and  divines  have  racked  their  imaginations 
to  describe  and  paint  its  horrors.  But  those  fallen 
spirits  seem  to  have  been  pretty  well  satisfied  with 
it,  although  they  had  been  accustomed  to  better 
things:  first,  on  the  ground  that  ;iu  was  better 
to  reign  in  Hell  than  serve  in  Heaven  "  ;  and,  sec- 
ond, because  they  considered  it  a  good  place  to 
plot  mischief  against  their  great  enemy.  Satan 
was  the  acknowledged  chief  or  king,  and  from 
that  fact  is  recognized  and  known  as  the  great 
Devil)  once  a  particular  friend  and  associate  of 


98  VINDICATION   OF   THE  TRUE   GOD 

God,  but  now  a  terribly  depraved  being,  going 
about  like  a  roaring  lion  seeking  whom  he  may 
devour  ;  and  the  capitol  or  seat  of  his  empire, 
which  astronomy  has  not  yet  been  able  to  locate, 
is  called  Hell.  Such  is  the  origin  of  the  Christian 
Devil  and  Hell,  and  neither  ever  had  any  other  or 
different  origin. 

The  fallen  spirits  were  conquered  but  not  sub- 
dued, for  they  still  breathed  revenge  and  defiance, 
and  considered  Hell  as  a  good  place  to  plot  and 
plan  schemes  to  vex  and  annoy  their  great  adver- 
sary, and  with  a  possible  chance  that  they  might 
eventually  overcome  him,  or  drive  him  into  some 
desperate  condition,  and  compel  a  reasonable  com- 
promise. 

About  this  time,  as  the  story  goes,  God  had 
created  Adam  and  Eve,  by  whom  he  expected  to 
raise  an  innumerable  race  of  intelligent  beings, 
who  would  ever  be  willing  and  ready  to  love, 
honor  and  worship  him,  and  sing  his  praises.  He 
laid  out  a  beautiful  garden,  "  with  walks  and 
shades,  fit  haunt  for  gods,"  which  he  called  Par- 
adise ;  ornamented  it  with  flowers,  filled  it  with 
trees  bearing  every  kind  of  fruit  that  could  please 
the  eye,  or  that  was  good  for  food,  and  placed 
them  in  it,  "  to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it,"  and  enjoy 
themselves.  If  he  had  done  nothing  more,  proba- 
bly everything  would  have  gone  right.  But  im- 
pelled, of  course,  by  infinite  wisdom  and  goodness, 
he  planted  in  the  midst  of  the  garden  a  certain 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  99 

other  tree,  which  bore  fruit  that  was  most  tempt- 
ing of  all  to  the  eye,  but  forbade  them  to  touch  it. 
Those  innocent  beings  undoubtedly  looked  upon 
it  with  great  longing.  Their  mouths  watered  to 
taste  it,  and  the  prohibition  probably  increased 
their  desire.  But  when  God  placed  them  there 
he  told  them,  "  Of  every  tree  in  the  Garden  thou 
mayst  freely  eat,  but  of  the  tree  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
garden  thou  shalt  not  eat,  for  in  the  day  thou 
eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die."  With  this 
injunction  he  left  them  to  themselves,  and  went 
home  to  heaven.  ^ 

It  seems  a  little  singular  that  this  God,  pos- 
sessed, as  it  is  claimed,  of  infinite  wisdom,  and  hav- 
ing millions  of  cherubim  and  seraphim,  all  warlike 
spirits,  around  his  throne,  with  nothing  to  do  but 
sing  his  praises,  and  knowing  the  desperate  char- 
acter of  the  beings  he  had  expelled  from  heaven, 
and  sent  out  to  roam  the  universe,  did  not  detail 
a  few  of  those  warlike  spirits  to  guard  that  beau 
tiful  Garden  and  those  innocent  beings  against 
the  wiles  and  schemes  of  such  adversaries.  He 
coukl  have  spared  and  surrounded  the  place  with 
legions,  that  would  have  been  delighted  to  fight 
their  hated  enemies.  But  he  did  nothing  of  the 

D 

kind. 

The  rebel  spirits  held  a  council  of  war.  Satan 
was  seated  u  high  on  his  throne  of  royal  state," 
and  the  members  of  his  cabinet  were  all  present. 


100          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

Each  delivered  a  speech  upon  the  general  situa- 
tion, and  particularly  upon  the  question  as  to 
how  they  might  most  vex  and  annoy  their  great 
enemy,  and,  if  possible,  overpower  him,  or  defeat 
some  of  his  schemes.  Moloch  was  for  open  war. 
Belial  and  Mammon  were  more  politic.  They 
were  opposed  to  a  useless  war,  and  advised  to  try 
and  make  themselves  comfortable  where  they 
were.  But  Beelzebub  suggested  there  was 

"  Another  world,  the  happy  seat 
Of  some  new  race  called  man,*' 

and  advised  that  they  had  better  bend  their 
thoughts  to  learn  what  kind* of  creatures  lived 
there,  and  what  might  be  done,  "  by  force  or 
subtlety,"  to  interfere  and  thwart  God's  plan  in 
regard  to  them.  This  gave  universal  satisfaction. 
The  scheme  was  adopted,  and  Satan  at  once  vol- 
unteered to  attend  to  the  business  single-handed 
and  alone.  At  this  the  trumpets  blew,  and  all 
Hell  resounded  with  acclamations  and  loud  ap- 
plause. Satan  immediately  started  on  the  mis- 
sion, and  so  became  our  Great  Devil. 

He  landed  upon  this  planet,  readily  found  Par- 
adise, hopped  over  the  high  walls  without  lei  or 
hindrance,  and  perched  high  up  on  the  tree  of 
life,  and  "  there  sat  like  a  cormorant,"  surveying 
the  field,  and  planning  his  attack.  Soon  he  is  in 
the  bower 

"  Squat  like  a  toad  close  at  the  ear  of  Eve," 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  IOI 

inspiring  her  with  naughty  dreams.  After  awhile 
he  assumes  the  form  of  an  erect,  fascinating,  and 
beguiling  serpent,  and  manages  to  meet  Eve  as 
she  is  walking  alone,  and  enters  into  conversation 
with  her.  He  directs  her  attention  to  the  "fruit 
of  that  forbidden  tree,"  and  wonders  why  she 
does  not  partake  of  it.  She  informed  him,  "  God 
has  said  to  us,  Ye  shall  not  eat  of  it  lest  ye  die ; 
for  in  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof,  thou  shalt 
surely  die."  Since  we  have  discovered  the  origin 
of  Satan,  and  that  he  was  the  serpent,  a  fact 
which  Moses  never  heard  of,  we  may  substitute 
his  name.  So  Satan  said  to  her,  "  Ye  shall  not 
surely  die,"  for  u  God  knows  that  in  the  day  ye 
eat  thereof,  your  eyes  shall  be  opened,  and  ye 
shall  be  as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil."  He 
thus  contradicted  what  God  told  them.  Satan's 
council  prevailed  with  Eve,  and,  as  the  poet  puts 
it, 

"  Her  rash  hand  in  evil  hour 
Forth  reaching  to  the  fruit,  she  pluck'd,  she  ate, 
Earth  felt  the  wound,  and  Nature  from  her  seat, 
Sighing  through  all  her  works,  gave  signs  of  woe 
That  all  was  lost." 

It  seems  that  Satan  was  the  most  truthful.  It 
did  not  kill  her,  but,  on  the  contrary,  she  had 
never  *'  tasted  such  delight,"  and  she  hastened  to 
take  some  of  the  fruit  to  Ajdam,  and  easily  per- 
suaded him  to  eat  also.  The  awful  crime  was 
then  committed, — the  terrible  fatal  deed  was  done. 


102  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

This  is  Adam's  fall,  the  fall  df  man,  which  occa- 
sioned the  great  scheme  of  Redemption.  Now, 
taking  the  Bible  view  of  the  matter,  what  did  God 
do  about  it  ?  The  only  account  that  was  ever 
attempted  to  be  given  before  the  Christian  era  of 
what  God  did,  is  in  the  third  chapter  of  Genesis. 
Soon  after  this  transgression,  God  was  "  heard 
walking  in  the  Garden  in  the  cool  of  day  "  ;  dis- 
covered what  had  been  done,  and  called  them  to 
account.  Adam  excuses  himself  by  saying,  "  The 
woman  thou  gavest  to  be  with  me,  she  gave  me 
of  the  tree,  and  I  did  eat  "  ;  and  Eve  said,  "The 
serpent  beguiled  me,  and  I  did  eat  "  ;  and  so  the 
fault  was  passed  from  one  to  another. 

Now,  if  God  had  then  immediately,  on  that 
very  day,  killed  them  both,  as  he  said  he  would, 
or  retired  them,  and  allowed  them  to  live  and  die 
childless,  and  started  with  a  new  pair,  all  trouble, 
if  there  was  any,  would  have  ended  then  and 
there,  and  no  scheme  of  Redemption  involving 
the  crucifixion  of  God  could  have  been  founded 
upon  it.  But  what  did  he  do?  He  first  doomed 
the  serpent  to  crawl.  It  is  most  likely,  if  there 
is  any  truth  in  the  story,  that  God  knew  as  well 
as  modern  divines  whether  this  serpent  was  only 
a  snake,  a  cunning  beast,  or  whether  it  was  Sa- 
tan. According  to  Moses,  he  treated  it  as  a 
snake,  and  never  intimated  that  Satan  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  the  matter.  And  the  punish- 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  103 

ments  pronounced  upon  Adam  and  Eve  were 
personal  to  themselves  alone,  and  there  is  not  the 
slightest  intimation  that  their  posterity  would  be 
held  responsible  for  it,  or  in  any  way  affected  by 
it.  All  to  the  contrary  is  a  mere  fiction  of  priest- 
craft, and  there  could  not  be,  and  is  not,  the 
slightest  foundation  for  it  in  justice,  reason,  or 
even  in  the  Bible,  or  any  tradition. 

Besides,  if  the  posterity  of  Adam  and  Eve  should 
possibly  have  been  rendered  any  way  responsible, 
the  total  destruction,  that  is  claimed,  of  all  man- 
kind by  the  flood  would  have  been  ample  expia- 
tion. But,  notwithstanding  all  this,  modern  priest- 
craft insists  that  the  sin  of  Adam,  which  was 
caused  by  Satan,  affected  all  his  posterity,  and 
rendered  it  necessary  for  God  to  devise  a  scheme 
of  redemption,  which  involved  the  necessity  that 
either  he  himself  or  his  dear  Son,  who  was  in 
every  respect  his  equal,  should  at  some  conven- 
ient time  appear  in  person  on  earth,  in  a  human 
form,  as  a  poor  mendicant,  be  spit  upon  and 
scourged  and  crucified  by  men,  as  the  only  way 
divine  wisdom  could  devise  to  render  it  possible 
for  a  small  portion  of  mankind  to  be  cleansed  of 
the  sin  Adam  committed  centuries  before  they 
were  born  ;  and  as  to  personal  sins,  be  placed  in 
a  condition  to  work  out  their  own  salvation  with 
fear  and  trembling.  But  that  even  this  scheme 
would  not  be  of  any  avail,  except  to  those  who 


104          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

heartily  believe  that  it  would  be  or  had  been  fully 
carried  out  by  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus  ;  involving, 
of  course,  a  belief  that  Jesus  was  in  truth  and 
fact  the  truly  begotten  Son  of  God,  etc. 

The  theory  of  the  scheme  is  :  First,  that  all  the 
posterity  of  Adam  are  equally  guilty  with  him  for 
his  act  of  disobedience,  and  for  it  richly  deserve 
everlasting  punishment.  Second,  that  by  some 
queer  fiction  of  divine  law  the  suffering  and  cru- 
cifixion of  a  human  body,  into  which  God  or  his 
dear  Son  might  temporarily  concentrate  himself, 
(he  being  immortal,)  would  be  equivalent  to  the 
everlasting  punishment  of  all  mortals.  That  in 
this  way  the  law,  which  required  their  everlast- 
ing punishment,  would  be  fully  vindicated  and 
expiated,  so  that  God  would  appear  to  have  justly 
executed  the  penalty,  and  could  of  free  grace  jus- 
tify and  save  harmless  all  who  truly  believe  that 
he  has  so  suffered  and  been  crucified ;  but  that 
it  can  be  of  no  avail  to  those  who  do  not  so  be- 
lieve. 

It  is  certain  that  no  such  scheme  was  ever  pub- 
lished or  made  known  to  man  before  the  Chris- 
tian Era,  notwithstanding  the  talk  about  the  faith 
of  the  old  patriarchs  ;  none  of  them  ever  heard  a 
word  about  it.  There  is  no  historic  fact  or  plau- 
sible tradition  to  support  it.  It  is  founded  wholly 
upon  the  arrogant  assumptions  of  modern  divines, 
which  are  nothing  but  priestcraft  aided  by  Grecian 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSES.  105 

mythology  and  poetic  imagination.  The  assump- 
tions are: 

1st.  That  they  have  discovered  something  that 
their  God  never  thought  of,  and  that  is,  that  the 
serpent  which  beguiled  Eve  was  not  a  snake,  as 
God  supposed  he  was,  but  Satan  himself,  the 
great  rebel,  that  was  expelled  from  heaven,  and  so 
disguised  that  God  did  not  recognize  him. 

2nd.  That  the  punishment  which  God  pro- 
nounced upon  Adam  and  Eve  was  not  severe 
enough  ;  and  they  have  taken  the  liberty  to  amend 
his  judgment,  and  insert,  in  place  of  the  punish- 
ment he  pronounced,  everlasting  damnation  for 
them  and  all  their  posterity. 

3rd.  That  God  has  heretofore  had  trouble  in 
his  family  circles,  as  mortals  often  have  ;  that  in 
consequence  there  was  once  a  terrible  war  in 
heaven,  which  resulted  in  the  expulsion  of  many 
of  his  most  intimate  and  influential  friends,  who 
afterwards  gathered  in  some  outside  locality 
which  made  a  hell ;  and  that  the  chief  rebel  then 
became  the  Great  Devil,  wlio  afterwards,  by  his 
wiles,  caused  the  disobedience  of  Adam,  which 
necessitated  the  adoption  of  the  scheme  of  re- 
demption that  involved  the  necessary  crucifixion 
of  God  or  his  only  Son. 

Such  are  the  assumptions  of  modern  divines, 
and  the  pages  of  heathen  mythology  furnish  no 
parallel  to  them  for  superstitious  and  ridiculous 
absurdity. 


106          VINDICATION   OF  THE   TRUE   GOD 

Of  course,  it  all  hinges  upon  the  question 
whether  there  ever  was  a  war  in  heaven,  and  an 
expulsion  therefrom  of  some  of  its  former  inhab- 
itants. If  there  was  no  war,  then  there  is  no 
Devil  and  no  Hell,  and  the  scheme  of  Redemp- 
tion falls  to  the  ground  ;  for  without  a  hell,  a 
place  of  everlasting  punishment,  there  could  be 
no  use  for  it, — nothing  to  which  it  could  be 
applied.  It  would  be  like  the  aforesaid  sawmill 
in  a  desert  where  there  was  nothing  to  saw. 

But  the  scheme  of  itself  contains  many  absurd- 
ities which  clearly  betray  its  human  origin. 

1st.  To  make  men  guilty  or  amenable  for 
sins  committed  by  their  ancestors,  before  they 
were  born,  would  be  the  use  and  gross  abuse  of 
arbitrary  power,  of  which  the  True  God  could  not 
possibly  be  guilty. 

2nd.  No  such  punishment  is  intimated,  or  can 
be  reasonably  inferred,  from  the  sentence  God  is 
reported  to  have  pronounced  upon  Adam  and  Eve. 
It  was  all  personal  to  themselves  alone,  and  no 
mention  is  made  of  their  posterity. 

3rd.  If  the  general  of  an  army  should  be  so 
outwitted,  outgeneraled,  and  driven  to  such  straits 
in  order  to  save  a  few  of  his  soldiers,  as  to  render 
it  necessary  for  him  to  deliver  himself  up  to  the 
enemy  to  be  crucified,  common  intelligence  would 
conclude  that  he  was  pretty  thoroughly  whippet}. 
Did  Satan  so  outgeneral  and  outwit  God  Almighty? 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  107 

4th.  Well  knowing  the  kind  of  beings  he  ban- 
ished from  heaven,  and  that  they  would  certainly 
do  all  in  their  power  to  vex  and  annoy  him,  it 
would  show  a  negligence,  want  of  sagacity,  and 
abilty  to  govern  on  the  part  of  God  which  would 
disgrace  a  militia  officer,  not  to  effectually  guard 
and  defend  Paradise  and  the  innocent  beings  he 
placed  there  against  the  wiles  of  such  an  adver- 
sary, and  with  that  tempting  tree  in  full  view. 
The  True  God  would  not  have  been  guilty  of  such 
negligence. 

5th.  Another  evidence  that  the  scheme  was 
not  devised  by  infinite  wisdom  is  the  fact  that 
its  efficacy  is  made  to  depend  upon  belief.  It 
made  it  a  necessary  condition  that  this  remarka- 
ble story  should  be  believed  by  men  endowed  with 
reason,  or  all  that  suffering  would  have  no  saving 
effect.  Then,  what  is  belief?  Belief  is  an  in- 
voluntary operation  of  the  mind,  depending  upon 
and  controlled  by  evidence,  and  of  itself  has  no 
moral  quality  whatever.  If  the  evidence  presented, 
no  matter  whether  it  be  strong  or  weak,  true  or 
false,  be  such  as  to  convince  and  convict,  and  it 
does  convict,  the  mind  cannot  fail  to  believe.  It 
has  no  choice  in  the  matter,  is  not  its  own  master 
in  that  respect,  and  the  will  cannot  control  it.  It 
must  and  will  believe.  Whereas,  on  the  contrary, 
if  the  evidence  does  not  convince,  is  so  mixed  up 
with  strange  and  unnatural  occurrences  and  prop- 


108          VINDICATION   OF  THE   TRUE   GOD 

ositions  as  to  confound  the  judgment,  the  mind 
cannot  believe,  though  threatened  with  the  rack 
or  faggot,  or  hell-fire:  such  threats  may  make 
hypocrites,  but  not  true  believers.  Therefore,  be- 
lief has  no  moral  quality,  any  more  than  the  beat- 
ing of  the  heart,  the  winking  of  the  eye,  or  any 
other  involuntary  motion  or  emotion.  And  to 
make  the  efficacy  of  a  scheme  of  salvation  to  de- 
pend upon  such  an  involuntary  action,  having  no 
moral  character,  shows  that  it  could  not  have 
been  devised  by  infinite  wisdom. 

6th.  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  the  true 
God,  who  has  untold  millions  of  worlds  to  take  care 
of,  — one  who  must  be  at  one  and  the  same  time 
and  always  present  at  each  and  every  point  in  his 
vast  dominions, — could,  or  would  if  he  could,  con- 
centrate himself  for  years  in  a  human  body  on 
this  planet,  to  be  spit  upon,  scourged  and  cruci- 
fied to  save  man  from  any  merited  punishment. 
Besides,  if  he  could  and  did,  he  certainly  could 
not  have  suffered  any  pain  in  the  act.  It  is  im- 
possible that  God  should  suffer  pain  at  all  ;  cer- 
tainly, not  more  at  any  one  time  than  at  all  times, 
for  he  is  unchangeable.  And  the  idea  that  God 
could  die  or  suffer  pain  is  too  absurd  and  ridicu- 
lous to  be  thought  of. 

7th.  Justice  could  not  be  satisfied  by  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  just  for  the  unjust.  It  cannot  be 
satisfied  with  simply  so  much  suffering ,  but  re- 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OK   MOSES.  109 

quires  that  the  guilty  should  bear  it,  and  that  is 
more  absolutely  necessary  than  the  suffering  itself. 

8th.  No  human  being  could  commit  an  act 
that  could  justly  merit  everlasting  torment.  Pun- 
ishment can  be  justly  inflicted  only  for  the  pur- 
pose of  example,  or  for  reformation,  and  eternal 
torment  could  not  answer  for  either. 

These  considerations  are  sufficient  to  prove 
that  the  great  scheme  of  redemption  is  not  of 
Divine  origin ;  and  when  we  find  that  it  is 
founded  upon  and  has  nothing  whatever  to  sup- 
port it  but  the  theory  that  there  has  been  a  war 
in  heaven,  which  is  a  ridiculous  absurdity, — only 
a  distortion  and  attempt  to  christianize  heathen 
mythology,  we  must  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  is  nothing  but  an  invention  of  priestcraft. 

To  say  that  the  stories  in  Genesis  are  allegori- 
cal or  symbolic — that  the  language  is  mystic — 
that  they  do  not  say  what  they  mean,  and  are 
not  to  be  understood  literally  as  they  read,  but 
that  they  contain  a  hidden  meaning,  which  re- 
quires interpretation  and  explanation,  only  makes 
the  matter  still  worse.  This  would  prove  that 
they  were  designed  so  as  to  require  the  services 
of  a  hired  priesthood,  pretending  to  be  inspired 
by  God,  to  interpret  them,  and  that  would  at  once 
stamp  it  all  as  a  human  invention.  It  must  be 
supposed  that  God  was  able  to  say  what  he 
meant :  and  if  he  said  anything,  that  he  would 


110          VINDICATION    OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

say  what  he  meant,  and  what  he  meant  to  be 
understood  as  meaning;  and  further,  that  he 
would  say  what  he  intended  in  so  plain  a  manner 
that  men  of  ordinary  capacity  might  understand 
it,  without  being  obliged  to  pay  interpreters. 
This  is  the  grand  secret  of  all  the  systems  of 
religion.  They  are  designed  and  organized  to 
require  and  hence  to  support  a  hired  priesthood  ; 
that  is  the  only  use  there  is  for  them,  and  there- 
fore it  is  plain  that  they  are  not  of  Divine  ori- 
gin. The  stories  in  Genesis  undoubtedly  give 
the  exact  idea  and  belief  the  writer  had  about 
what  he  relates  and  describes  ;  the  absurdity  and 
untruthfulness  of  the  stories  are  owing  entirely  to 
his  want  of  knowledge. 

But  without  regard  to  reason  or  common 
sense,  frenzied  and  infatuated  superstition  adopted 
and  maintained  a  belief  in  the  God  of  Moses,  the 
Immaculate  Conception,  the  Resurrection,  the 
Immortality  of  the  Soul,  the  old  personal  friend 
and  boon  companion  of  God  now  turned  into  a 
raging  Devil,  and  a  terrible  Hell,  with  its  lake  of 
fire  and  brimstone ;  and  this  became  the  estab- 
lished doctrine  of  all  Christendom.  We  will 
presently  see  how  it  worked  under  a  perfect  and 
powerful  organization. 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  Ill 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  CHURCH  IN  OPERATION. 

THERE  was  still  one  important  matter  that  re- 
mained to  be  settled,  and  that  related  to  the  per- 
sonality of  Jesus, — whether  he  was  in  fact  God 
or  man.  Human  reason,  learning,  ingenuity  and 
superstition  exerted  all  their  powers  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  thousands  of  prayers  were  addressed  to 
God  and  his  reputed  Son,  imploring  them  to  settle 
it.  But  God  gave  no  response,  and  Jesus  also 
remained  perfectly  silent.  So,  at  length,  in  the 
year  325,  as  a  last  resort,  a  council  of  bishops  was 
called  at  Nicea,  and  the  question  was  there  sub- 
mitted for  them  to  determine. 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  very  acrimonious  de- 
bate upon  the  subject,  but  on  the  question  being 
put  to  vote,  a  majority  by  their  votes  declared  and 
decided  that  this  Jesus  was  "  the  Son  of  God,  be- 
"  gotten  of  the  Father,  of  the  same  substance  of 
"  the  Father,  God  of  God,  Light  of  Light,  very 
"God  of  very  God,  begotten  not  made,  being  of 
"  one  substance  with  the  Father,  by  whom  all 
"things  were  made,"  etc.  Thus  the  good  Jesus, 
in  a  little  less  than  three  hundred  years  after  his 
crucifixion,  was  by  a  decree  of  bishops  apothoe- 


112          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

sized  and  made  into  God  ;  but  he  has  never 
thanked  them  for  the  honor  they  conferred  upon 
him,  or  given  notice  that  he  accepted  the  position. 

However,  the  election  was  not  unanimous,  for 
Arius  and  many  other  learned  and  good  men 
warmly  protested  against  it,  but  to  no  purpose. 
The  vote  of  that  majority  in  that  council  settled 
the  question,  of  course,  beyond  doubt,  that  Jesus 
is  God,  and  its  decision  has  ever  since  been  the 
distinguishing  doctrine  of  all  orthodox  churches  ; 
and  a  full  and  hearty  belief  of  it  is  declared  by 
them  to  be  necessary  for  salvation,  and  to  doubt 
it  is  damnable  heresy.  If  anything  more  absurd 
and  ridiculous  was  ever  done  in  an  assembly  of 
learned  men,  it  remains  yet  to  be  discovered. 

With  this  the  great  Catholic  Church  became 
established,  and  Rome  became  the  seat  of  its  em- 
pire; and  then,  as  the  legitimate  and  necessary 
consequence  of  its  doctrines  and  teachings,  a 
cloud,  more  appalling  than  the  fabled  Egyptian 
darkness,  began  to  settle,  and  spread  its  gloomy  pall 
over  the  whole  civilized  world.  There  was  a  great 
rush  into  the  priesthood,  where  easy  professional 
services  would  secure  a  good  livelihood.  The 
celibacy  of  the  clergy  was  decreed.  Priests  were 
not  allowed  to  marry.  But  this,  so  far  from  se- 
curing purity  of  life,  only  opened  the  whole  field 
to  lust  and  profligacy,  and  no  pot  dared  to  call  a 
kettle  black.  Convents,  monasteries  and  nunner- 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  113 

ies  multiplied.  Jesuitical  and  numerous  other 
societies  were  formed,  and  all  the  members,  to- 
gether with  priests,  monks,  friars,  and  nuns,  were 
spread  thick  over  all  Christendom  ;  all  zealously 
engaged  in  preaching  and  promoting  the  doctrines 
and  superstitions  of  the  holy  Catholic  Church.  It 
was  a  matter  of  business  and  personal  interest 
with  them  — the  means  by  which  they  gained  a 
livelihood.  The  number  so  engaged  was  enor- 
mous. They  correspond  with  the  large  body  of 
priests  and  levites  which  Moses  cunningly  organ- 
ized, so  as  to  make  their  duty  to  support  his  sys- 
tem exactly  coincide  with  their  personal  interest 
to  support  themselves.  It  was  a  great  stroke 
of  policy  with  Moses,  and  is  the  whole  secret  of 
the  power  that  supported  that  system  and  insured 
success.  It  was  the  same  with  the  Catholic  Church. 
It  is  that  personal  interest  of  the  priesthood,  in- 
cluding monks,  friars,  nuns,  Jesuits,  etc.,  as  a 
kind  of  levitical  adjunct,  to  support  themselves, 
which  has  and  still  does  sustain  the  Church,  and 
give  it  all  its  power. 

Soo.n  the  great  truth  (than  which  there  is  none 
more  certain)  that  '  *  ignorance  is  the  mother  of 
devotion,"  was  fully  realized.  I  do  not  say  that 
it  was  directly  taught.  It  was  unnecessary,  for  it 
was  obvious  then,  as  it  is  now,  to  everybody;  but 
it  was  recognized.  Learning  is  too  inquisitive;  left 
to  itself  it  inquires  after  courses  and  reasons.  It 


114          VINDICATION   OF  THE   TRUE   GOD 

was  necessary  for  religious  purposes  that  it  should 
be  bridled  and  curbed.  Therefore,  education  was 
not  encouraged  by  the  church,  nor  was  it  allowed, 
except  when  thoroughly  spiced,  seasoned  and  fla- 
vored with  the  mummeries  and  superstitions  of  the 
priests.  The  minds  and  consciences  of  men  were 
fettered  and  enslaved.  Science  was  forbidden  to 
publish  her  discoveries,  knowledge  was  suppressed 
and  gross  ignorance  prevailed.  Unbelievers  were 
persecuted  and  robbed, — heretics  were  tortured 
and  burned, — every  art  was  employed  to  bring 
revenue  to  the  church.  To  this  end  all  priests 
and  their  levitical  assistants,  monks,  friars,  nuns, 
Jesuits,  etc.,  exerted  themselves  to  foster  and 
promote  superstition  among  the  people.  Rosaries 
were  introduced  to  assist  them  to  count,  and  be 
reminded  of  the  saints.  They  gathered  and 
paraded  manufactured  relics  of  old  saints  to  in- 
crease reverence  ;  pretended  to  work  miracles,  and 
by  these  means  induced  the  people  to  contribute. 
The  poor  pinched  themselves  of  the  necessaries  of 
life  to  contribute  their  mites.  The  rich  made 
large  donations  to  secure  their  salvation.  Many 
contributed  bountifully  while  living,  and  many 
dying  bequeathed,  some  large  legacies,  and  others 
all  their  estates  to  the  church.  Purgatory  was 
invented,  and  masses  for  praying  departed  souls 
through  it  was  a  fruitful  source  of  income,  for 
they  all  had  to  be  paid  for  in  advance.  Pardons 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF  MOSES.  115 

for  crimes  that  had  been  committed,  and  for  all 
moral  faults,  were  sold  at  established  prices  ;  and 
dispensations,  or  full  pardons,  for  contemplated 
crimes,  which  had  not  been  but  were  intended  to 
be  committed,  were  bargained  for  and  sold  for 
money. 

In  this  way,  the  church  became  rich  and  pow- 
erful. The  nightmare  of  superstition  spellbound 
all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  Kings,  queens, 
princes  and  nobles,  as  well  as  all  other  classes,  fell 
under  the  same  influence.  All  contributed  to  the 
church  ;  all  bowed,  with  humble  reverence  to  the 
Pope  of  Rome,  and  submitted  abjectly  to  his  dom- 
ination. No  one  dared  to  do  anything  that  he 
would  not  sanction  ;  excommunication  was  feared 
nnd  dreaded/as  what  they  then  believed  to  be  the 
final  doom  of  the  damned.  It  would  surely  call 
down  upon  them  the  dire  vengeance  of  heaven. 
And  this  hellish  gloom  of  darkness  spread  over 
and  rested  upon  all  Europe,  and  parts  of  Asia 
and  Africa,  for  more  than  a  thousand  years.  If 
the  good  Jesus  could  have  looked  in  upon  this 
scene,  how  aptly  might  he  have  said  :  "  My  house 
is  called  the  house  of  prayer,  but  ye  have  made 
it  a  den  of  thieves." 

At  length  Martin  Luther  broke  this  spell,  and 
shook  and  astonished  the  religious  world.  This 

o 

bold  reformer  dared  to  think  and  reason,  to  ex- 
press and  publish  his  thoughts.  That  opened 


I  1 6          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

the  eyes  of  other  men,  and  they  began  to  think 
and  reason  and  talk,  and  at  once  their  shackles 
fell.  This  broke  the  power  of  Rome,  shattered 
that  great  Rock,  as  with  a  blast  of  dynamite,  in- 
to fragments,  and  shook  it  to  its  center,  and  it  be- 
gan to  disintegrate.  The  chief  good  of  the 
reformation  was  to  unfetter  mind  and  free  it  from 
the  thralldom  of  religious  superstition.  It  for- 
ever broke  the  power  of  religion  over  mind. 
Once  free,  it  was  sure  to  remain  so.  Reason  left 
to  itself  will  find  truth,  and  truth  unshackled  will 
work  her  way  to  drive  out  error.  The  immedi- 
ate effect  was  to  provoke  bloody  persecutions,  for 
it  could  not  be  supposed  that  the  vast  multitudes 
that  were  being  fed  and  supported  by  the  church 
would  give  up  without  a  struggle.  -All  the  frag- 
ments of  the  great  rock  took  with  them  the  same 
God  and  his  reputed  Son,  and  formed  into  differ- 
ent sects.  Each  sect  claimed  to  be  the  true 
original  rock,  and  all  there  was  of  it ;  and  if  it 
had  had  the  power,  it  would  have  done  just 
about  the  same  as  Rome  had  done.  It  would 
have  considered  that  it  was  doing  God  service  to 
destroy  and  cut  off  all  opponents,  as  thoroughly 
as  the  Israelites  did  in  Canaan. 

That  is  the  nature  of  a  false  religion.  Each 
assumed  to  be  God's  chosen  people,  and  employed 
to  establish  his  kingdom  on  earth.  They  were 
all  unanimously  bitterly  opposed  to  Rome,  and 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF    MOSES.  HJ 

could  be  relied  upon  to  fight  her  under  any  cir- 
cumstances. But,  fortunately,  they  were  so 
jealous  of  each  other,  it  was  impossible  to  com- 
bine themselves  into  a  single  force.  This  fact 
secured  the  general  safety  of  mankind,  as  it  does 
now.  For  however  fairly  and  smoothly  they 
may  talk  about  the  blessings  of  religious  liberty, 
it  would  be  found  on  close  scrutiny  that  each 
sect  thinks  it.  is  a  good  thing  to  have  liberty  to 
preach  its  own  doctrines,  but  is  doubtful  about 
the  policy  of  allowing  some  other  sects  to  do  the 
same.  It  is  obvious  if  either  could  get  the  power 
to  prevent  it,  no  other  would  have  the  license. 
This  is  the  natural  tendency  of  bigotry,  which  is 
the  child  of  superstition.  The  same  old  leaven 
and  the  same  old  bigotry  are  clearly  developed 
before  us,  right  now,  near  the  close  of  this  nine- 
teenth century,  in  the  trial  of  Dr.  Briggs  for 
heresy — for  daring  to  doubt  the  literal  accuracy, 
the  absolute  inerrency  and  infallibility  of  portions 
of  the  old  testament.  This  proves  that  the  religious 
sects  are  all  on  a  wrong  basis.  They  preach  charity 
but  have  none.  They  are  all  founded  on  the  false 
pretences  of  Moses — on  faith  in  Moses  instead  of 
faith  in  God.  They  are  following  false  ideas  of 
God,  that  he  is  like  man,  and  advocating  false 
systems.  If  it  were  not  so,  they  would  harmon- 
ize writh  freedom  of  thought  and  freedom  of  action 
— with  rational  diversions  and  amusements  which 


Il8          VINDICATION   OF   THE  TRUE   GOD 

are  necessary  to  a  healthy  development  of  botli 
the  physical  and  mental  natures,  and  with  all  the 
best  interests  of  mankind.  But  they  do  not; 
they  are  discordant  with  the  nature  of  man,  which 
proves  that  they  are  not  true.  They  are  selfish 
and  bigoted,  divided  into  different  sects,  differing 
about  what  each  claims  to  be  essential.  A  house 
so  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.  So  the 
work  of  disintegration,  which  began  over  three 
hundred  years  ago,  is  slowly  but  surely  going  on, 
and  must  continue  until  all  the  old  doctrines  are 
entirely  done  away  with.  The  manhood  of  God, 
the  fabulous  stories  about  a  war  in  heaven,  a 
hell,  a  great  personal  devil,  the  scheme  of  salva- 
tion, the  divine  paternity  of  Jesus,  and  the  story 
of  his  resurrection,  must  all  pass  away  as  phan- 
toms of  a  superstitious  imagination. 

The  old  doctrines  are  still  persistently  main- 
tained in  the  pulpits,  but  not  in  the  pews.  They 
are  all  honeycombed  at  the  foundation,  for  the 
people  do  not  believe.  They  go  to  church  as  a 
matter  of  habit,  or  to  see  the  fashions.  They  be- 
come members,  and  contribute  to  its  support. 
Every  Sunday,  thousands  on  their  bended  knees 
solemnly  declare,  "  I  believe  in  the  resurrection  of 
the  body."  It  is  in  the  form,  and  they  repeat  it 
after  the  minister, —  it  is  in  fact  the  doctrine  of 
the  church  — but  does  anybody  believe  it?  And 
worse  yet,  in  some  churches  even  now  the  priests 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  It 9 

every  Sunday  claim  and  pretend  that  for  and  on 
behalf  of  their  people  they  eat  a  piece  of  the 
very  body  of  Jesus  Christ,  manufactured  on  the 
spot,  and  drink  some  of  \usreal,  true  blood,  which, 
by  some  kind  of  magic,  they  make  out  of  pure 
wine  without  changing  the  vinous  flavor.  Some 
may  doubt  this  assertion,  and  I  do  not  wonder  at 
it,  for  it  seems  too  incredible  to  be  believed  by 
human  beings,  but  nevertheless  it  is  strictly  true. 
<;  'T  is  true,  '  t  is  pity,  and  pity  '  t  is,  '  t  is  true/' 
for  it  shows  to  what  a  depth  of  nonsense  super- 
stition may  degrade  the  human  intellect.  But  all 
these  things  are  passing  away  — "Mene,  Mene, 
Tekel,  Upharsin,"  is  written  all  over  them. 

The  churches  may  flatter  themselves  that  they 
are  growing  in  strength  and  power — but  they  are 
not.  Their  doctrines,  theories  and  organizations 
are  but  a  mere  shell,  and  very  thin  ;  nothing  but 
a  bubble,  inflated  with  superstition;  for  the  peo- 
ple do  not  believe.  They  are  looked  upon  as 
absurd  ;  the  stories  in  the  Bible,  for  the  most 
part,  are  regarded  only  as  mythological  fables. 
So  the  work  of  disintegration  is  quietly  but  surely 
going  on  among  all  thinking  people,  and  prepar- 
ing for  a  final  exit  of  all  the  old  superstitions  and 
mythological  doctrines. 

But,  notwithstanding  all  I  have  said,  I  am 
bound  to  remark  here  that  it  is  not  to  be  assumed 
or  thought  that  all  who  have  believed  in  and 


120          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

earnestly  supported  the  Mosaic  and  Christian  sys 
terns  were  bad  men,  hypocrites,  and  evil  disposed 
persons,  doing  what  they  knew  to  be  wrong,  for 
they  were  not  by  any  means  ;  they  were  simply 
deluded  and  deceived.  There  have  been  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  of  truly  great,  good  and 
true  men,  who  have  heartily  believed  and  zeal- 
ously supported  both.  As  the  field  was  much 
larger,  many  more  are  found  among  Christians 
than  among  Hebrews.  To  attempt  to  number 
them  would  be  like  attempting  to  count  the  stars. 
I  will  allude  to  only  one  as  a  sample  of  many, 
and  that  one  is  the  noble  old  hero  known  as  St. 
Paul.  He,  too,  was  a  Jew,  a  learned  man,  and 
after  the  "  most  straightest  sect  of  his  religion, 
he  lived  a  Pharisee  "  —  a  believer  in  a  resurrec- 
tion. He  was  a  sincere  and  earnest  believer  of 
Moses  and  the  Prophets.  He  was  living  at  the 
time  of  the  crucifiixon  of  Jesus,  and  with  others 
of  his  countrymen  believed  that  Jesus  taught  doc- 
trines that  were  subversive  of  their  system. 
When  he  heard  the  claim  to  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion and  ihe  Resurrection,  he  looked  upon  it  as 
blasphemous,  and  thought  that  such  teaching 
ought  to  be  suppressed  ;  and  armed  with  author- 
ity from  the  chief  priests  he  undertook  to  do  it. 
He  was  the  same  good,  earnest  man  then  that  he 
afterward  was,  for  he  verily  believed  that  he  was 
doing  right.  But  on  looking  more  carefully  into 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF  MOSES.  121 

the  writings  of  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  and  par- 
ticularly inquiring  more  about  the  life  and  teach- 
ings of  Jesus,  he  became  convinced  that  he  was 
wrong,  and  that  Jesus  must  be  the  very  person 
spoken  of  by  the  prophets,  who  should  come  to 
redeem  Israel.  He  at  once  became  a  firm,  zeal- 
ous and  sincere  believer,  and  devoted  his  life  with 
energy  to  support  and  maintain  that  doctrine  ;  and 
to  his  preaching  and  personal  labors,  more  than 
all  others,  Christianity  is  indebted  for  its  start  in 
the  world.  And  if  it  could  have  been  kept  under 
the  influence  and  control  of  just  such  men,  it 
would,  no  doubt,  have  done  much  good,  notwith- 
standing it  was  based  upon  a  false  and  imaginary 
foundation.  For  almost  any  system,  under  the 
exclusive  guidance  and  control  of  real  good  men, 
will  work  well  for  mankind.  Hence,  it  is  con- 
ceded that  an  absolute  monarchy,  if  it  could 
always  be  sure  of  having  a  real  good  man  at  the 
head,  is  the  best  of  all  governments. 

It  may  be  conceded  that  St.  Paul  was  some- 
what superstitious.  Superstition  may  be  a  de- 
fect, but  it  is  not  a  crime  ;  and  it  cannot  be  treas- 
ured up  as  a  fault  against  any  one,  for  all  men 
are  more  or  less  superstitious. 

But  some  superstitions  have  naturally  and  nec- 
essarily a  bad  tendency  and  a  bad  influence  upon 
mankind,  and  our  effort  and  object  should  be  to 
hunt  out  all  such,  apply  the  torch  of  reason  to 


122          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

them,  and  burn  them  out.  So,  while  we  may 
admit  that  St.  Paul  was  superstitious,  believed 
in  and  supported  a  system  wholly  founded  on 
superstition,  and  taught  some  things,  such  as  the 
doctrines  of  election,  preterition,  etc.,  which  are 
horrible  to  think  of,  and  cannot  be  true,  we  can 
well  afford  to  overlook  all  such  things,  and  blow 
them  to  the  winds  as  husks  and  chaff.  But,  while 
we  do  this,  let  us  take  care  not  to  blow  away  and 
lose  any  of  the  good  wheat. 

It  is  said  of  St.  Paul,  that  he  was  rather  inferior 
in  personal  appearance, — was  short,  bow-legged, 
bald-headed,  blear-eyed,  etc., — but  in  that  dome 
of  thought  there  resided  a  lofty  mind,  a  grand 
and  noble  soul.  The  character  of  one  who  offers 
his  life  for  a  cause  does  not  depend  upon  the 
question  whether  the  cause  is  abstractly  right  or 
wrong, — whether  it  is  founded  upon  fact  or  fiction. 
If  he  believes  it  is  right,  although  his  death  does 
not  prove  it  to  be  so,  still  he  gives  his  life  for 
what  he  believes  to  be  right,  and  that  ennobles 
the  sacrifice.  Paul  believed  that  his  cause  was 
right,  and  with  what  a  sublime  resignation  he 
submitted  to  the  cruel  decree  of  the  infamous 
Nero!  As  he  writes  to  Timothy:  C6I  am  now 
"  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure 
"is  at  hand.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have 
" finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith."  A 
noble  ending  of  a  noble  life.  He  kept  a  faith 


AGAINST   TH£   GOD   OF   MOS3S.  123 

that  was  dear  to  him  and  for  which  he  gave  his 

D 

life,  and  he  had  a  high  hope  of  an  everlasting 
life  of  happiness;  but  still  there  was  something 
which  he  regarded  as  of  much  more  importance 
than  even  this  faith  and  this  hope,  and  illustrated 
it  in  his  life;  and  in  proof  of  this  I  will  quote  his 
own  words. 

"  Though  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and 
of  angels  and  have  not  charity,  I  am  become  as  a 
sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal.  And  though 
I  have  the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  understand  all 
mysteries  and  all  knowledge,  and  though  I  have 
all  faith,  so  that  I  could  remove  mountains,  and 
have  not  charity ,  I  am  nothing.  And  though  I 
bestow  all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  though 
I  give  my  body  to  be  burned  and  have  not  charity, 
it  profiteth  me  nothing.  Charity  suffereth  long 
and  is  kind.  Charity  envieth  not,  vaunteth  not 
itself,  is  not  puffed  up.  Doth  not  behave  itself 
unseemly,  seeketh  not  her  own,  is  not  easily  pro- 
voked, thinketh  no  evil,  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity, 
but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth.  And  now  abide  Faith, 
Hope  and  Charity,  these  three,  but  the  greatest 
of  these  is  Charity" 

There  is  the  ring  of  the  true  metal.  Even 
with  him  charity  was  of  more  consequence  than 
faith  arid  hope.  And  it  is  not  limited  and  con- 
fined to  giving  old  clothes  and  cold  pieces  to  the 
poor,  but  consists  of  a  high,  noble,  ardent  desire, 


124          VINDICATION   OF   THK   TRUE)   GOD 

coupled  with  energetic,  self-denying,  persistent 
action,  to  promote  the  general  good,  well  being, 
comfort  and  happiness  of  all  mankind. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

MOSES  AND  His  TRADITIONS. 

WE  now  come  to  inquire  more  particularly 
about  the  God  of  Moses  and  the  creation.  What 
did  Moses  believe  in  regard  to  creation  ?  What 
kind  of  a  being  did  he  believe  and  represent  God 
to  be?  How  were  those  opinions  formed?  Is  it 
possible  that  Moses  represented  the  True  God  ? 
What  were  his  pretences  in  regard  to  God,  and 
were  those  pretences  honest  and  true?  And  with 
what  right  is  such  a  being  as  Moses  represented 
God  to  be  now  set  up  and  claimed  to  be  the  True 
God? 

There  is  no  evidence  that  any  God  had  any  per- 
sonal meeting  and  talked  with  Moses,  or  ordered, 
directed  and  promised  to  assist  him  to  do  any- 
thing, except  the  word  of  Moses  himself,  if  we 
have  even  so  much  as  that.  Nobody  else  ever 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  125 

saw  any  meeting  or  heard  any  conversation  be- 
tween them.  He  had  it  all  in  his  own  exclusive 
power  to  say  what  he  pleased  about  God,  without 
the  possibility  of  any  contradiction,  for  all  his 
pretended  interviews  were  private,  with  himself 
alone.  Under  such  circumstances,  and  consider- 
ing his  stories  are  so  inconsistent  with  human  ex- 
perience, to  form  a  correct  and  proper  estimate 
of  the  weight  and  value  of  his  testimony,  we  must 
consider  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  the  opinion 
and  belief  he  had  of  creation  and  of  God,  all  the 
circumstances  that  surrounded  him,  and  whether 
he  had  any  motive  to  misrepresent.  And,  above 
all,  we  must  inquire  whether  the  things  he  pre- 
tended that  God  ordered  and  directed  him  to  do, 
and  promised  to  aid  and  assist  him  to  do,  were 
consistent  with  the  character  of  the  True  God.  If 
they  were  not,  we  may  be  sure  that  his  pretences 
were  false,  without  reference  to  motive.  For  God 
must  be  true  to  himself,  though  it  make  every 
man  a  liar. 

Moses  was  born  and  lived  on  the  boundary  line 
between  oral  tradition,  handed  down  from  gener- 
ation to  generation,  and  written  history,  and  was 
among  the  first  to  enter  the  historic  age.  All  be- 
yond him  was  verbal  tradition,  and  childish  ignor- 
ance everywhere  prevailed.  He  entered  the  his- 
toric age  with  all  the  ideas,  notions,  opinions  and 
conceits  which  then  generally  prevailed  in  the 


126  VINDICATION    OF   THK   TRUE    GOD 

world,  and  wliicli  were  represented  by  traditions. 
They  were  probably  first  formed  and  shaped  into 
stories  in  a  still  more  remote,  ignorant  and  child- 
ish age,  but  were  doubtless  revised  and  changed, 
or  altered  from  time  to  time,  as  new  light  dawned 
upon  them.  Moses  doubtless  remodeled  them 
somewhat  to  suit  his  own  ideas  and  designs. 

At  the  early  dawn  of  reason,  mankind  groping 
in  darkness  sought  to  discover  the  cause  and 
origin  of  what  they  saw  around  them.  They  had 
not  the  slightest  suspicion  that  there  was  anything 
of  creation  but  the  earth,  the  sun.  moon  and  the 
firmament,  with  the  little  supposed  insignificant 
bright  spots  they  saw  in  it  at  night.  They 
readily  conceived  that  everything  must  have  had 
a  beginning,  and  hence  that  all  those  things,  in- 
cluding man  and  beast,  must  have  been  created, 
and  consequently  must  have  had  a  creator.  From 
this  they  came  to  the  conclusion  that  there  must 
be  some  great  unseen  power  or  being  that  had 
done  all  this  work. 

After  concluding  that  there  was  a  creator,  they 
could  not  rest  contentedly  until  they  imagined 
out  hew  he  did  this  work  ;  and  also  what  kind  of 
a  being  he  was  ;  what  were  his  form  and  nature 
and  general  characteristics,  and  where  he  lived. 
Different  people  in  different  localities  were  doing 
the  same  thing,  and  each  formed  its  own  peculiar 
ideas  and  notions.  On  these  subjects  they  exer- 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  127 

cised  their  ignorant  fancy  and  imagination,  and 
formulated  stories  which  were  handed  down  ver- 
bally from  generation  to  generation,  and  resulted 
in  the  creation  of  multitudes  of  imaginary  or 
heathen  gods.  Then  the  whole  world  was  pagan, 
worshiping  such  gods  as  they  had  created  by  their 
own  imaginations. 

When  Jacob,  after  serving  his  uncle  Laban  in 
Haran  twenty  years,  clandestinely  stole  away  to 
return  to  Caanan,  his  wife  Rachel  stole  her  father's 
gods  and  took  them  with  her.  Laban  was  sorely 
aggrieved  at  this, — made  a  great  ado  about  it, 
—  and  hastily  pursued,  to  recover  those  sacred 
images.  This  proves  that  La  ban's  family,  and 
consequently  his  ancestors  and  family  connec- 
tions, were  pagans.  Abraham  was  very  anxious 
that  his  son  Isaac  should  take  a  wife  from  the 
same  family,  and  he  took  Rebeckah,  the  sister 
of  Laban ;  arid  Jacob,  following  after,  married 
the  two  daughters  of  Laban.  As  there  were 
never  any  family  jars  on  account  of  religion,  the 
necessary  inference  is  that  Abraham,  Isaac  and 
Jacob  and  all  family  connections  were  pagans, — 
worshippers  of  imaginary  gods,  and  had  and  used 
images  to  represent  them.  Hence,  their  god  was 
of  the  same  genus  or  class  as  the  gods  of  the 
Canaanitcs  and  other  pagan  people, —  all  imagin- 
ary beings,  and  all  served  and  worshipped  in  the 
same  way. 


128          VINDICATION   OF   THE  TRUE   GOD 

While  they  lived  in  Canaan,  they  did  not  rise 
to  the  dignity  of  being  a  distinct  people,  but  only 
one  family.  Rachel  died  soon  after  reaching 
Canaan,  but  that  left  to  Jacob  her  maid  servant, 
her  sister  Leah  and  her  maid  servant,  all  of  whom 
Jacob  treated  as  wives,  and  by  all  of  whom  he 
had  children.  Then  he  had  twelve  sons,  many  of 
them  probably  married  to  Canaanite  women,  who 
had  children  and  maid-servants,  and  all  these, 
together  with  other  servants,  male  and  female, 
made  up  the  family  of  seventy  that  migrated  to 
Egypt.  They  all  went  there  as  pagans,  and  to  a 
pagan  country. 

Arriving  in  Egypt,  the  land  of  Goslien  was 
allotted  to  them  as  a  possession  and  a  dwelling 
place.  And  there  they  lived  for  upwards  of  four 
hundred  years.  During  this  time  they  doubtless 
intermarried  with  and  became  more  or  less  in- 
termixed with  the  Egyptians,  but  preserved  their 
race  distinction,  and  multiplied  and  grew  into  a 
distinct  people,  which  in  the  time  of  Moses  num- 
bered somewhere  about  two  millions.  They  evi- 
dently retained  their  pagan  ideas,  and  adopted 
the  paganism  of  the  Egyptians,  and  their  mode 
of  worship.  Moses,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
royal  family,  was  brought  up  and  educated  as  a 
pagan  priest,  and  it  is  evident  that  his  people 
were  strongly  attached  to  the  Egyptian  paganism. 
For,  after  they  had  gone  into  the  wilderness,  while 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  t2$ 

Moses  was  up  in  Mount  Sinai,  manufacturing 
evidence  to  prove  his  personal  intimacy  with  his 
God,  the  people  clamored  urgently  for  a  God,  and 
Aaron,  to  pacify  them,  made  them  a  golden  calf, 
which  was  an  imitation  of  Apis,  the  chief  God  of 
the  Egyptians,  and  with  this  they  were  appeased. 
Moses  was  greatly  displeased  at  it,  as  it  showed 
that  the  affections  of  the  people  had  not  been  en- 
tirely weaned  from  the  Egyptian  gods,  and  wholly 
fixed  upon  him  and  the  god  he  had  created  for 
them. 

While  Moses,  during  the  forty  years  he  spent 
in  the  wilderness,  was  forming  and  perfecting  his 
scheme  to  take  his  people  from  Egypt  to  Canaan, 
and  there  build  up  an  independent  nation  with 
them,  he  conceived  the  idea  that  it  would  be 
proper  and  advisable  for  them  to  have  a  distinct 
and  separate  God,  a  national  God  of  their  own,  as 
other  peoples  had.  And  consequently  he  invent- 
ed and  created  one  for  that  purpose,  and  shaped 
all  the  stories  and  traditions  which  he  relates  to 
suit  his  ideas  of  such  a  God.  lie  created  this 
God  in  a  human  form,  with  face,  hands,  feet  and 
"  back  parts,"  which  he  afterwards  says  he  saw; 
ascribed  to  him  almighty  power  and  a  considera- 
ble wisdom,  though  not  of  the  highest  order ;  but 
especially  endowed  him  with  many  human  frail- 
ties, such  as  partiality,  jealousy,  vanity,  deceit, 
cruelty,  revenge,  etc.;  located  his  private  resi- 


130          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

dence  up  in  the  sky,  where  he  was  attended  with 
a  retinue  of  angels.  His  presence  was  limited  to 
the  locality  of  this  personality,  so  that  to  be  pres- 
ent at  different  places  on  the  earth  it  would  be 
necessary  for  him  to  "  come  down,"  and  do  more 
or  less  traveling  ;  and  that  at  times  he  did  "  come 
down,"  and  advise,  consult  and  talk  with  human 
beings.  Such  is  the  kind  of  God  which  Moses 
represented  to  his  people  to  be  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  required  them  to  adopt 
and  worship  as  their  God.  It  must  be  noted, 
however,  that  he  recognized  the  existence  of  oth- 
er gods,  as  conclusively  appears  in  the  first  com- 
mandment, which  says,  "  Thou  shalt  have  no  other 
gods  before  me  ";  that  is,  no  other  gods  that  you 
will  prefer  to  or  like  better  than  me. 

All  such  ideas  and  representations  of  God  are 
clearly  pagan,  and  they  could  not  possibly  have 
had  any  other  than  a  pagan  origin.  The  fact 
that  Moses  represents  him  as  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  the  God  of  the  Israel- 
ites exclusively,  and  not  the  God  generally  of  all 
mankind,  but  so  particularly  and  exclusively  the 
God  of  the  Israelites  as  to  be  tc  an  enemy  of  their 
enemies  and  an  adversary  of  their  adversaries," 
and  promising  to  "  cut  off  and  destroy  all  other 
people  ''  for  their  benefit,  proves  most  conclusively 
that  he  was  not  the  True  God,  but  only  an  imag- 
inary pagan  God,  that  Moses  created  for  his  peo- 
ple and  his  own  use. 


AGAINST  THK   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  131 

These  views  will  be  fully  sustained  by  a  critical 
examination  of  the  record  of  the  stories  which 
Moses  related,  as  showing  what  he  believed,  his 
own  actions,  and  all  he  said  about  his  God.  Some 
of  these  stories  consist  of  traditions  similar  to 
those  that  had  prevailed  and  been  believed  in 
different  parts  of  the  world  before  his  day.  But 
as  they  appear  in  Genesis,  they  were  probably 
modified  and  changed  considerably  by  him  to  suit 
his  own  ideas  arid  his  designs.  None  of  them,  how- 
ever, show  that  he  was  inspired  with  any  scientific 
knowledge  superior  to  what  other  pagans  pos- 
sessed, nor  do  they  show  any  more  exalted  ideas 
or  conceptions  of  God  than  other  pagans  had  of 
their  gods.  Each  one,  of  course,  claimed  that 
his  God  was  the  great  original  Creator,  and  supe- 
rior to  all  other  gods,  except,  other  heathen  did 
not  ascribe  to  their  gods,  as  Moses  did  to  his,  any 
such  low  attributes  as  jealousy  and  partiality,  or 
charge  them  with  the  abominable  cruelty  of 
4< cutting  off  and  destroying"  a  whole  nation  of 
worthy  people  to  give  place  to  another  people. 

The  first  of  these  traditions  which  Moses  gives 
relates  to  the  creation,  which  he  says,  was  all  done 
in  six  days.  It  is  evident  from  the  Fourth  Com- 
mandment that  he  meant  six  ordinary,  natural 
days.  But  it  is  of  no  consequence  at  present, 
whether  in  the  tradition  he  really  means  days  or 
periods.  But  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  he  claims 


132          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

that  it  was  all  done  only  about  twenty-five  hun- 
dred years  before  his  time,  which  is  evidently 
antagonistic  to  the  discoveries  of  science. 

The  order  in  which  the  work  proceeded  on  the 
fifth  and  sixth  days  is  what  any  ordinary  mind 
might  conceive  after  the  globe  was  formed  and 
sufficiently  cooled,  and  therefore  is  of  no  import- 
ance. But  the  story  relates  that  God  created 
light  on  the  first  day,  and  nothing  else.  This  was 
before  he  made  any  bodies  that  emit  light.  Per- 
haps we  may  not  doubt  that  infinite  power  might 
have  done  so,  but  it  seems  to  be  rather  an 
awkward  mode  of  procedure  and  very  improbable. 

The  second  day's  work  is  the  most  remarkable 
of  all,  for  he  says  on  the  second  day  God  cre- 
ated a  firmament  in  the  midst  of  the  waters,  to 
divide  the  waters  that  were  under  the  firmament 
from  the  waters  that  were  above  the  firmament. 
That  is  undoubtedly  just  what  he  meant  and  sup- 
posed to  be  the  fact.  This  would  necessarily  im- 
ply that  he  supposed  that  the  firmament  was  of 
some  solid  substance,  and  that  it  held  back  a  body 
of  water,  and  kept  it  from  falling  on  to  the  earth. 
And  he  supposed  that  there  were  windows  in  this 
firmament  that  might  be  opened  as  occasion  might 
require,  and  in  the  time  of  the  great  flood,  as  "  all 
the  foundations  of  the  great  deep  "  did  not  fur- 
nish sufficient  water  to  {<  cover  all  the  high  hills 
that  were  under  the  whole  heaven,"  the  windows 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSES.  133 

of  tliis  firmament  were  opened,  and  the  storage 
reservoir  that  was  above  the  firmament  was 
availed  of  to  accomplish  the  work  of  destruction. 
The  story  about  a  firmament  certainly  is  not  true. 
Nothing  of  the  kind,  or  that  can  be  construed  by 
allegory  or  figure  of  any  kind  to  answer  the  place 
of  it,  ever  existed  except  in  the  imagination  of  men 
that  were  ignorant  of  the  true  fact.  Moses  un- 
doubtedly believed  it,  or  he  would  not  have  put 
it  so  into  his  account  of  creation.  It  appeared  so 
to  him  and  his  ancestors.  They  had  nothing  to 
judge  by  but  appearances,  and  so  they  believed. 
And  if  he  could  believe  such  a  thing,  what  might 
he  not  believe  ? 

On  the  third  day,  it  says,  the  waters  were  gath- 
ered into  seas,  and  dry  land  made  to  appear ;  and 
on  the  same  day,  u  the  earth  brought  forth  grass  " 
and  vegetation  generally.  The  improbable  thing 
to  be  remarked  about  this  day's  work  is,  that  it 
represents  vegetation  as  flourishing  before  the  sun 
was  created.  We  may  admit  this  as  within  the 
power  of  God,  but,  as  a  fact,  very  improbable. 

On  the  fourth  day,  as  the  story  goes,  God 
created  the  sun  to  rule  the  day,  and  the  moon  to 
rule  the  night,  etc.,  and  "he  made  the  stars  also, 
and  set  them  in  the  firmament  of  heaven,  to  give 
light  upon  the  earth."  That  is  all  the  stars  were 
made  for,  according  to  Moses  ;  quite  insignificant 
things,  mere  shining  specks,  set  in  the  firmament 


134          VINDICATION   OF  THK   TRUE   GOD 

as  a  jeweler  would  set  diamonds  in  a  brooch,  and 
to  give  light  to  the  earth. 

Such,  Moses  supposed  and  believed,  was  the 
whole  extent  of  creation,  aside  from  man  and 
beast  ;  and,  as  afterwards  appears,  that  the  earth 
was  firmly  and  permanently  fixed  and  established 
in  one  locality,  that  it  was  the  only  place  of  any 
importance  in  the  universe,  and  that  all  other 
bodies,  great  and  small,  were  created  simply  for 
the  purpose  of  furnishing  it  with  light.  This, 
then,  was  the  idea  Moses  had  of  creation, — that 
the  earth  was  the  only  important  body  in  the 
universe,  that  it  was  fixed  immovably  in  a  certain 
locality,  and  of  some  considerable  size,  but  how 
large  he  had  no  idea.  That  over  it,  and  some 
distance  from  it,  there  was  a  solid  firmament, 
made  to  prevent  the  waters  that  were  above  it 
from  flooding  the  earth  ;  that  it  had  windows  in 
it  that  might  be  opened,  had  been  opened  at  the 
time  of  the  flood  ;  and  that  it  was  spangled  with 
some  insignificant,  light-giving  objects,  and  that 
the  sun  and  moon  revolved  around  between  the 
earth  and  firmament  in  whatever  way  they  might. 
From  such  a  situation  Moses  contemplated,  im- 
agined, and  formed  his  ideas  of  a  God. 

Other  traditions  which  Moses  relates  most 
clearly  show  what  ideas  he  formed  of  the  person- 
ality of  his  God,  and  what  he  thought  of  him. 
The  one  that  comes  next  in  order  relates  to  the 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  135 

creation  of  man.  It  declares  that  God  made  man 
in  his  own  image  and  likeness  out  of  the  dust  of 
the  earth,  and  " breathed  into  his  nostrils  the 
breath  of  life,  and  he  became  a  living  soul." 
Soon  after  (<  he  thought  it  was  not  good  for  man 
to  be  alone,"  so  he  caused  a  deep  sleep  to  fall 
upon  the  man,  who  was  named  Adam,  and  while 
asleep  "  he  took  out  one  of  his  ribs,  and  dosed 
up  the  flesh  instead  thereof,''  and  of  the  rib  "  he 
made  a  woman,  and  brought  her  unto  the  man." 
This  story  must  have  originated  in  a  very  child- 
ish and  whimsical  age,  and  also  at  a  time  when 
arrogance  and  presumption' had  free  license  to 
say  what  they  pleased.  The  modern  mode  of 
accounting  for  the  origin  of  man  is  much  more 
plausible,  and  undoubtedly  approximates  much 
nearer  to  the  fact.  However,  it  establishes  the 
fact  that  Moses  conceived  the  idea  that  man  was 
in  the  "  image  and  likeness"  of  God,  and  it  fol- 
lowed as  a  necessary  consequence,  and  so  he  cre- 
ated his  God  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  man, 
possessed  of  infinite  power,  and,  perhaps,  more 
wisdom,  but  otherwise  just  like  a  man.  Just 
such  a  being  as  he  said  he  saw  from  the  cleffc  in 
the  rock,  with  face,  hands,  feet,  and  "  back 
parts." 

This  view  is  sustained  by  the  other  parts  of  the 
story  relating  to  Adam  and  Eve,  and  also  by 
the  other  traditions.  The  story  goes  on  to  -elate 


136          VINDICATION    OF   THE   TRUK   GOD 

that  God  planted  a  garden  in  the  East,  gives  the 
exact  boundaries,  and  caused  to  grow  in  it  "  every 
tree  that  was  pleasant  to  the  sight  and  good  for 
food  ";  and  also  planted  in  the  midst  of  the  garden 
another  peculiar  tree,  which  he  called  "the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil/'  and  placed 
Adam  and  Eve  in  the  garden  "  to  dress  it  and 
keep  it."  He  commanded  them,  saying,  "Of 
every  tree  of  the  garden  thou  mayst  freely  eat, 
but  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil 
thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it ;  for,  in  the  day  thou  eatest 
thereof,  thou  shalt  surely  die."  After  thus  talk- 
ing with  and  giving'  them  his  commandment,  he 
left  them  to  enjoy  themselves  and  went  home. 

The  Buddhists  have  a  very  similar  tradition 
about  the  origin  of  man,  but  in  place  of  the  Gar- 
den of  Eden  which  Moses  speaks  of,  they  say  that 
the  first  pair  was  placed  on  the  Island  of  Ceylon. 
This  shows  the  wide  prevalence  of  a  tradition 
which  Moseys  shaped  to  suit  his  own  purpose,  and 
that  was  to  enable  him  to  trace  the  ancestry  of 
his  people  to  his  first  man,  which  is  all  simply 
imaginary. 

Moses  gives  no  account  of  the  creation,  or  any 
origin  of  a  devil  or  a  hell,  and  no  such  things 
were  recognized  in  his  system.  His  system  had 
respect  only  to  this  life,  and  a  future  existence 
was  not  thought  of.  According  to  his  story  it 
seems  to  have  pleased  God  to  take  Enoch  home 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  137 

with  him,  and  it  is  afterwards  related  that  he 
sent  a  fiery  chariot  to  fetch  Elijah  up  there  also. 
But  it  is  nowhere  hinted  that  there  was,  or  ever 
would  be,  any  general  migration  from  earth  to 
heaven  or  hell,  or  any  other  place,  either  before 
or  after  death.  The  Hebrews,  after  the  days  of 
Moses,  learned  that  the  Gentiles  recognized  the 
existence  of  certain  bad  beings, — such  as  Satan, 
Moloch,  Belial,  Mammon,  and  Beelzebub, — but 
they  had  no  place  in  their  theocracy.  The  only 
villain  the  authors  of  the  Mosaic  traditions  intro- 
duced in  the  great  drama  was  the  serpent,  which 
is  represented  to  be  the  most  cunning  of  all  beasts. 
And  it  is  represented  that  this  serpent  appeared 
in  the  garden,  and  entered  into  conversation  with 
Eve  about  this  tree  of  knowledge.  She  told  him 
what  God  had  said  and  commanded  concerning 
it.  And  he  then  as  much  as  said  that  God  had 
not  told  them  the  truth  ;  for,  he  said,  God  well 
knew  that  it  would  not  kill  them  to  eat  of  it ;  nor 
would  they  die  in  consequence  of  eating  of  it ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  it  would  "open  their  eyes, 
and  they  would  be  as  gods,  knowing  good  and 
evil."  The  event  proved  that  the  serpent  was 
the  most  truthful.  For  after  God  discovered 
that  they  had  eaten  of  the  fruit,  instead  of  killing 
them,  as  he  said  he  would,  on  the  very  day,  he 
only  drove  them  out  of  the  garden,  and  required 
them  to  go  to  work  for  a  living,  but  allowed  them 


138  VINDICATION    OF   THE    TRUK    GOD 

to  live  to  a  good  old  age,  and  raise  a  large  family 
of  children. 

After  eating  of  the  fruit,  God  is  represented  as 
coming  there.  "  He,  ivas  heard  walking  in  the 
garden  in  the  cool  of  the  day,''  just  like  a  gentle- 
man enjoying  the  evening  zephyrs  at  his  country 
seat.  He  calls  aloud  for  Adam,  and  Adam  ap- 
pears with  Eve  by  his  side,  and  he  talks  to  them 
face  to  face,  as  a  man  would  talk  with  his  neigh- 
bors. He  draws  from  them  the  confession  that 
they  had  eaten  of  that  tree.  After  listening  to 
their  excuses,  and  learning  the  circumstances  of 
the  case,  he  pronounces  the  several  punishments 
for  each  offender.  He  punished  Adam  by  curs- 
ing the  earth,  so  that  it  would  bring  forth  thorns 
and  thistles  and  make  it  hard  to  cultivate,  and 
doomed  him  as  follows:  "  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face 
shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till  thou  return  unto  the 
ground."  Nothing  is  threatened  or  said  relating 
to  his  posterity. 

Some  fifteen  or  sixteen  hundred  years  after 
those  garden  scenes  are  represented  to  have 
occurred,  there  happened,  according  to  Moses,  a 
great  flood  on  a  part  of  the  earth  occupied  by 
the  Semitic  race.  The  fact  that  there  was  a 
flood  does  not  prove  that  God  had  any  such  con- 
nection with  it  as  stated  in  the  tradition.  It  was 
not  by  any  means  as  extensive  as  the  Bible  ac- 
count states,  but  to  those  on  the  spot  it  undoubt- 


AGAINST  THK   GOD   OF   MOSES.  139 

edly  seemed  to  cover  the  whole  earth.  They  had 
no  correct  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  earth,  but  sup- 
posed it  had  but  one  side,  that  on  which  they 
lived.  They  could  not  conceive  it  possible  that 
human  beings  could  live  on,  stand  up,  and  walk 
about  on  the  underside,  like  flies  on  a  ceiling. 
Hence,  they  supposed  that  that  flood  covered  the 
wlWe  earth  ;  and  long  after  its  occurrence  they 
set  to  work  to  account  for  it,  and  finally  elaborated 
a  tradition  from  which  Moses  manufactures  the 
one  he  gives  in  Genesis. 

His  version  represents  that  God  became  utterly 
disgusted  with  the  whole  race  of  mankind,  which 
had  become  quite  numerous,  and  determined  to 
destroy  it,  as  appears  from  the  following  quota- 
tion :  "  And  God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man 
was  great  in  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagina- 
tion of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  was  only  evil 
continually.  And  it  repented  the  Lord  that  he 
had  made  man  on  the  earth,  and  it  grieved  him  at 
his  heart"  Then  he  had  a  personal  interview 
with  Noah,  told  him  of  his  intention  to  destroy 
mankind,  and  ordered  him  to  build  an  ark  of 
gopher-wood,  with  rooms  in  it,  and  to  pitch  it 
within  and  without  with  pitch  :  gave  him  a  plan 
with  full  and  minute  specifications.  It  was  to  be 
made  with  rooms  so  as  to  accommodate  Noah 
and  wife  and  their  three  sons  with  their  wives  ; 
also  pairs  of  all  living  animals,  and  storage-room 


140          VINDICATION   OF   THK   TRUK   GOD 

for  a  good  supply  of  provisions,  for  both  man  and 
beasts.  "  And  Noah  did  according  to  all  that 
God  commanded  him/'  When  the  Ark  was  com- 
pleted and  stored  with  provisions,  Noah  and  wife, 
his  three  sons  and  their  wives,  went  aboard,  took 
rn  pairs  of  all  animals,  and  the  craft  was  ready 
for  the  great  cataclysm.  Then,  "  in  the  six  hun- 
d.edth  year  of  Noah's  life,  in  the  second  month, 
the  seventeenth  day  of  the  month,  [very  particular 
as  to  the  exact  date]  the  same  day  were  the  foun- 
tains of  the  great  deep  broken  up,  and  the  win- 
dows of  heaven  were  opened.  And  the  rain  was 
upon  the  earth  forty  days  and  forty  nights."  u  All 
the  high  hills  that  were  under  the  whole  heaven 
were  covered,  and  all  flesh  and  every  man  died," 
— except,  of  course,  what  were  in  the  Ark.  This 
ought  to  have  been  considered  the  full  expiation 
of  Adam's  trangression. 

After  the  storm  was  over,  Moses  says  God 
u  came  down  "  again,  and  Noah  entertained  him. 
He  built  an  altar  unto  him,  and  took  of  clean 
beast  and  fowl,  and  offered  burnt  offerings  to 
him.  This  fact  is  of  no  consequence,  but  the 
statement  which  follows  is  of  great  importance, 
as  showing  the  ideas  which  Moses  had  of  God. 
It  is  as  follows  :  "  And  the  Lord  smell ed  a  sweet 
savour/'  The  Lord  is  represented  to  have  ex- 
perienced just  the  same  kind  of  sensation  that 
many  a  gentleman  has  experienced  where  good 


AGAINST  THK   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  141 

meat  was  being  roasted.  "  And  the  Lord  smelled 
a  sweet  savour."  Just  think  of  it.  How  pleased 
and  satisfied  he  must  have  been ! 

Then  it  is  represented  God  made  a  covenant 
with  Noah  and  sealed  it  with  a  rainbow,  by  which 
he  promised  never  to  destroy  the  world  again. 
Gave  it  to  Noah  and  his  posterity,  commanded 
him  to  be  fruitful  and  multiply,  and  replenish 
the  earth,  and  again  went  home. 

It  would  seem  that  Noah  did  all  that  could 
have  been  reasonably  expected  of  him  in  the 
matter  of  increasing  and  replenishing  the  earth 
with  a  new  population,  for  in  less  than  two  hun- 
dred years  the  world  was  again  pretty  well  filled 
with  people.  And  this  imagined  God  must  have 
been  considerably  disappointed  to  find  that  the 
new  race  was  no  better  than  the  one  he  had  so 
mercilessly  destroyed.  As  the  story  goes,  he 
heard  that  the  impious  people  of  Shinar  were 
building  a  tower,  and  designed  that  its  top  should 
reach  up  to  heaven,  and  by  that  means  they  in- 
tended to  invade  and  take  possession  of  his  pri- 
vate residence,  as  the  giants  did  when  they 
piled  Pelion  upon  Ossa  to  get  into  Jupiter's 
heaven,  and  frightened  the  old  fellow  out  of  his 
wits.  4<  So  he  came  down  to  see  it."  After 
viewing  the  plan  and  witnessing  the  progress  of 
the  work  for  a  while,  he  went  back  to  consider. 
He  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  plan  was 


142          VINDICATION   OF  THE   TRUE   GOD 

feasible,  and  that  they  would  accomplish  their 
object  unless  he  adopted  some  vigorous  means  to 
prevent  it.  So  he  reasoned,  and  said  to  his 
friends,  "Behold  the  people  is  one,  (i.  e.  united,) 
and  they  have  all  one  language  ;  and  this  they 
begin  to  do,  and  now  nothing  will  be  restrained 
from  them,  which  they  have  imagined  to  do. 
Go  to,  (i.  e.  come  on;)  let  us  go  down  and  there 
confound  their  language,  that  they  may  not  un- 
derstand one  another's  speech."  It  is  said  that 
he  did  so,  and  consequently  the  work  had  to  be 
abandoned. 

In  all  these  stories  in  regard  to  the  creation  of 
the  world  or  the  creation  of  man,  or  of  any  of  the 
work  performed  or  the  way  in  which  it  was  done, 
or  about  the  personality  of  God,  his  residence  or 
his  movements,  there  is  not  the  trace  of  any- 
thing but  Pagan  ideas,  notions  and  imaginings. 
But  they  show  just  the  ideas  and  notions  Moses 
had  of  those  things.  As  Moses  gives  them  and 
relates  them  (as  modified  by  himself)  as  facts  and 
as  true  stories,  we  must  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  he  believed  them  just  as  they  read,  and  that 
they  fairly  represent  and  portray  his  views  and 
belief. 

Absurd  and  ridiculous  as  all  such  ideas  may 
seem  to  us  now,  a  little  reflection  will  show  how 
easy  and  natural  it  was  for  people  in  the  days  of 
Moses  to  believe  them  ;  and  he  did  not  live  in 


AGAINST  THE   GOD  OF   MOSKS,  143 

the  nineteenth  century  of  the  Christian  era  either, 
but  some  thirty-four  centuries  before,  and  when 
mankind  were  very  ignorant,  and  trusted  to  their 
imaginations  for  facts.  When  we  were  children 
all  these  stories  were  read  and  taught  to  us.  Our 
ancestors  believed  them  as  they  read,  and  we  fol- 
lowed in  the  wake,  and  believed  them  all  to  be 
literally  true,  as  many  Christians  now  do.  Peo- 
ple did  the  same  in  the  time  of  Moses.  There 
was  no  talk  of  these  stories  being  allegories  in 
my  young  days,  but  real  facts.  When  it  becomes 
necessary  to  call  them  allegories,  it  is  high  time 
to  throw  them  away  and  pronounce  them  fictions. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE    ORIGIN    OF   THE    GOD    OF   MOSES. 

As  it  is  important  to  have  and  keep  in  view  a 
correct  and  definite  understanding  of  the  real  sit- 
uation and  belief  of  Moses,  ami  the  kind  of  God 
he  imagined  and  formed  as  a  National  God  for 
his  people,  I  will  here  condense  and  summarize 
them  as  follows  : 

Moses  believed  that  this  planet  was  the  only 


144          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

body  in  creation  that  was  of  any  consequence,  and 
tliat  everything  else  was  made  for  its  benefit ; 
that  it  was  firmly  and  permanently  fixed  in  one 
locality  ;  that  the  firmament  or  sky  overhead  was 
created  as  it  appeared  of  some  solid  substance, 
and  made  and  fixed  to  prevent  a  body  of  water 
that  he  supposed  to  be  above  it  from  falling  upon 
and  submerging  the  earth.  That  there  were 
windows  in  it  which  might  be  opened  as  occasion 
might  require,  and  that  at  the  time  of  the  flood 
they  were  opened,  and  some  of  that  water  let  out 
to  aid  in  the  work  of  destruction.  That  the  sun 
and  moon  were  created  to  regulate  the  seasons 
and  give  light  to  the  earth  ;  and  that  the  stars 
were  also  created  to  give  light  to  the  earth  ;  that 
they  were  very  insignificant  shining  bodies,  firmly 
set  in  the  firmament.  That  God  formed  man  out 
of  the  dust  of  the  earth  in  the  same  way  that  an 
artist  would  form  a  model  for  apiece  of  statuary, 
and  breathed  into  its  nostrils  the  breath  of  life, 
and  so  he  became  a  living  soul.  That,  thinking 
it  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone,  God  caused  a 
deep  sleep  to  fall  upon  Adam,  and  took  a  rib  out 
of  his  side,  "  and  closed  up  the  flesh  instead  there- 
of," and  of  this  rib  "  made  a  woman,  and  brought 
her  to  the  man." 

This  is  just  what  we  might  suppose  an  ignorant 
and  childish  people,  who  were  intent  upon  account- 
ing for  everything  they  saw,  might  imagine. 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  145 

They  had  nothing  but  their  imagination  to  rely 
upon  for  facts,  outside  of  what  they  actually  saw. 
It  seemed  probable  enough,  and  Moses  probably 
believed  it  about  as  he  relates  it  ;  just  as  we  did 
when  we  were  children,  and  just  as  many  Chris- 
tians do  now.  No  such  place  as  hell  was  ever 
thought  of  in  those  days  ;  but  Moses  believed 
that  there  was  a  certain  permanent  locality  up  in 
the  sky,  between  the  earth  and  the  firmament 
and  not  far  off,  called  heaven,  where  God  had 
established  his  throne  and  his  private  residence. 
Hence,  when  he  had  anything  to  do  on  earth, 
that  it  wrould  be  necessary  for  him  to  "  come 
down."  Every  heathan  nation  located  its  God 
up  in  about  the  same  locality  and  in  the  same 
way. 

Moses  claimed  that  his  God  was  in  the  image 
and  likeness  of  man,  possessed  almighty  power 
and  considerable  wisdom ;  but  otherwise  was  like 
man,  and  had  his  general  characteristics,  includ- 
ing partiality,  jealousy,  vanity,  liability  to  get  an- 
gry and  fly  in  a  passion,  etc.;  that  he  occasionally 
left  this  heavenly  mansion  and  "  came  down  ''  to 
earth  on  official  business,  or  to  make  friendly 
visits.  He  "  came  down  "  to  make  Adam,  and  to 
make  a  wife  for  him,  and  to  settle  them  in  the 
garden  of  Eden  which  he  planted  for  them.  That 
after  Adam's  transgression  he  came  down  again, 
was  heard  to  be  "  walking  in  the  garden  in  the 


146          VINDICATION   OF  THE   TRUE   GOD 

cool  of  the  Jay,"  and  then  discovered  (lie  great 
sin  Adam  and  Eve  had  committed  ;  called  them 
to  account  for  it,  and  had  several  personal  inter- 
views with  them  on  the  subject;  spoke  a  human 
language,  and  talked  with  them  face  to  face,  as  a 
man  would  talk  with  his  acquaintances.  After- 
wards he  "  came  down  "  to  visit  Noah,  told  him  he 
intended  to  destroy  mankind  from  the  face  of  the 
earth,  ordered  him  to  build  an  ark  of  gopher- 
wood,  and  and  gave  him  a  plan  with  full  and 
minute  specifications.  After  the  flood  he  "came 
down  "  again,  and  enjoyed  the  smell  of  "the  sweet 
savor"  of  the  meat  Noah  roasted  for  his  enter- 
tainment, and  made  a  covenant  with  Noah,  by 
which  he  gave  to  Noah  and  his  seed  full  control  of 
the  earth  and  all  there  was  in  it,  and  agreed  never 
again  to  destroy  the  world.  That  still  later  his 
God  "came  down"  to  see  what  the  people  of 
Shinar  intended  to  do  with  the  tower  they  were 
building,  and  frustrated  their  designs  by  confound- 
ing their  language. 

It  will  not  do  for  learned  divines  to  hatch  out 
and  invent  theories  and  suppositions  that  Moses 
said  anything  about  the  creation,  which  he  did 
not  suppose  and  believe  to  be  the  real  facts  ;  that 
he  said  one  thing  when  he  meant  another;  that 
his  "six  days''  meant  six  long  periods;  that  he 
did  not  mean  what  he  said  about  the  firmament 
and  the  waters  above  it;  that  he  did  not  mean 


AGAINST   TH£   GOD   OF   MOS3S.  147 

that  Adam  and  Eve  were  made  exactly  as  he  de- 
scribes;  that  he  did  not  mean  that  God  actually 
planted  the  Garden  of  Eden,  and  the  tempting 
tree,  called  the  tree  of  knowledge,  in  the  midst  of 
it;  that  he  did  not  mean  to  be  understood  that 
God  had  a  human  form  and  the  general  charac- 
teristics of  man  ;  that  he  sometimes  left  heaven 
and  "came  down1'  to  earth,  and  had  personal  in- 
terviews with  mankind,  spoke  a  human  language, 
talked  with  Adam  and  Eve  and  Noah,  face  to 
face,  as  one  man  would  talk  to  another ;  that  it  is 
all  mystic  language  that  requires  interpretation  ; 
that  it  was  not  intended  to  be  understood  by  the 
common  people  until  they  paid  priests  to  inter- 
pret it.  It  will  not  do  to  talk  so  in  these  days. 
It  is  obvious  that  Moses  understood  the  meaning 
of  the  words  he  used,  and  if  he  at  any  time  said 
one  thing  when  he  meant  another, — used  language 
to  conceal  his  thought,  or  said  what  he  did  not 
mean, — that  of  itself  would  be  sufficient  to  im- 
peach his  testimony  altogether;  for  it  would  be 
impossible  for  priests  or  anybody  else  to  determine 
what  he  meant  by  what  he  said.  If  he  did  not 
mean  just  what  he  said,  then  why  did  he  say  any- 
thing ? 

And  if  it  should  be  said  that  he  was  inspired  by 
God  to  write  as  he  did,  and  that  it  was  the  inten- 
tion of  God  to  have  him  hide  the  real  truth  in 
mystic  language  and  allegorical  stories,  which 


148          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

could  not  be  understood  without  a  skilled  interpre- 
ter, that  would  make  it  still  worse, —  it  would  ac- 
cuse God  of  intent  to  deceive.  Such  an  assump- 
tion as  relates  to  the  true  God  would  be  blasphemy. 
It  is  equivalent  to  charging  him  with  deception, 
of  which  it  is  impossible  that  he  should  ever  be 
guilty;  or,  what  is  quite  as  bad,  of  hiding  his 
meaning  in  mystic  language,  so  as  to  make  it  nec- 
essary to  employ,  and  thus  to  support,  a  hired 
priesthood  to  interpret  it.  It  is  therefore  only 
fair  and  reasonable  to  take  it  for  granted  that  in 
all  he  said  about  the  creation  of  the  world,  the 
firmament,  and  Adam  and  Eve,  ridiculous  as  it  is, 
Moses  related  just  what  he  imagined  and  believed 
to  be  the  facts.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  or 
believe  that  Moses  had  any  other  different  ideas 
or  opinions  about  those  things  than  just  exactly 
what  he  said.  As  corrected  by  him,  they  were 
substantially  the  notions  and  opinions  of  the  age, 
and  there  is  no  evidence  that  Moses  held  any 
different  opinions.  His  wras  the  case  of  a  man  of 
great  intellect,  but  whose  knowledge  was  neces- 
sarily limited  to  what  was  then  known  in  the 
world.  He  made  no  new  discoveries. 

Now  we  know  that  his  ideas  and  belief  in  re- 
gard to  the  creation  were  wrong,  inadequate,  in- 
finitely below  the  facts,  and  we  might  naturally 
suppose  that  his  ideas  of  God  would  be  equally 
erroneous.  Neither  he  nor  his  ancestors  had  any 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  149 

reasonable  conception  of  the  True  God,  They 
relied  wholly  upon  their  imaginations  to  idealize 
him,  and  their  ideas  were  formed  and  founded  on 
the  basis  that  this  world  was  all  there  was  of 
creation.  Of  course,  his  presence  wouid  be  con- 
fined within  its  limits.  They  assigned  him  an 
elevated  position  in  the  sky,  to  enable  him  the 
better  to  observe  what  was  j;oing  on  below.  That 
the  earth  and  the  people  upon  it  comprised  every- 
thing that  required  his  care  and  supervision. 
They  as  well  as  he  invested  God  with  a  human 
form,  as  the  highest  excellence  they  could  conceive 
of,  and  assumed  that  he  must  have  the  attributes 
and  general  characteristics  of  man.  They  could 
have  no  doubt  that  he  might  travel  about,  and 
visit  any  place  as  he  pleased  within  the  limits  of 
that  imagined  creation.  They  had  no  idea  that 
he  was  every  where  present  at  the  same  time.  He 
could  not  possibly  be  without  the  ability  to  talk? 
and  it  seemed  natural  to  suppose  that  he  could 
speak  any  human  language  in  vogue.  From  such 
crude  imaginings,  in  their  endeavor  to  account 
for  everything  they  saw  or  heard  of,  they  formu- 
lated the  stories  about  the  creation  of  the  world, 
the  Garden  of  Eden,  the  creation  of  Adam  and 
Eve,  and  all  about  the  flood,  (all  probably  modi- 
fied somewhat  by  Moses  himself,)  but  all  of  which 
are  manifestly  the  creatures  of  the  pagan  imagin- 
ation of  an  ignorant  and  childish  age,  but  fully 
and  fairly  representing  the  belief  of  Moses, 


150  VINDICATION    OF   THK   TRUK   GOD 

Therefore,  we  must  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
this  God  of  Moses  was  conceived  and  born  of  the 
imagination  of  man, — created  by  the  imagination 
in  the  same  way,  and  by  precisely  the  same  pro- 
cess of  reasoning,  as  Saturn,  Jupiter,  Neptune* 
Pluto,  Apis,  Osiris,  and  other  heathen  gods  were 
created,  and  that  he  was  the  same  kind  of  a  being, 
no  other  or  different;  and  so  understood  and  be- 
lieved by  Moses  to  be.  And  this  view  is  confirmed, 
established  and  proved  most  conclusively  by  the 
general  character  and  actions  that  are  attributed 
to  him,  and  the  way  or  manner  in  which  Moses 
used  him. 

With  such  a  God  at  his  command,  there  were 
great  possibilities  for  a  cunning,  shrewd  politician 
like  Moses.  He  might  easily  make  an  ignorant 
and  superstitious  people  believe  that  such  a  God 
had  "  come  down,"  and  called  to  him  from  a  bush 
that  seemed  to  be  oh  fire,  or  shown  his  "  back 
parts"  to  him  on  the  mountain,  or  done  any  other 
absurd  and  ridiculous  thing. 

Three  or  four  thousand  years  ago,  it  was  be- 
lieved that  when  the  gods  "  came  down  "  to  visit 
this  world,  they  generally  chose  the  tops  of  moun- 
tains as  their  inns  or  stopping  places,  on  the  sup- 
position that  they  were  nearer  their  home,  and 
more  readily  accessible.  A  great  poet,  who  did 
not  pretend  to  be  inspired,  says  early  one  rosy 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSUS.  151 

"That  Jove  convened  the  Senate  of  the  skies 
Where  high  Olympus'  cloudy  tops  arise." 

And  Parnassus  is  famed  as  the  favorite  haunt  of 
Apollo,  Bacchus,  and  the  Heavenly  Nine.  The 
God  of  Moses  chose  Mt.  Sinai.  His  thunders, 
however,  were  in  no  way  superior  to  those  of 
Jupiter,  and  neither  were  his  revelations.  When 
"  Jove  convened  the  Senate  of  the  skies,3'  it  was 
for  the  purpose  to  prevent,  and  he  issued  his 
solemn  commandment,  that  no  God  should  show 
any  partiality  towards,  or  think  of  yielding  any 
assistance  to,  either  of  the  armies  of  men  that 
were  at  war  with  each  other,  but  leave  them  to 
fight  it  out  among  themselves.  And,  generally 
speaking,  those  heathen  gods  were  above  the 
meanness  of  partiality  and  jealousy,  which  were 
among  the  distinguishing  traits  of  the  God  of 
Moses.  Certainly,  none  of  them  was  ever  guilty 
of  planning  and  instigating  a  scheme  to  "  cut 
off  and  destroy"  a  whole  nation  of  well-behaved 
people,  to  give  their  land  and  property  to  another 
people  of  any  sort ;  and  they  never  acknowledged 
any  "  peculiar  people,"  to  whom  they  showed  all 
their  favors,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  peoples. 
The  acknowledged  heathen  gods  were  quite  as 
good  as  the  God  of  Moses.  They  all  had  some 
regard  for  right  and  justice. 

The  True  God  certainly  has  no  such  form  or 
general  characteristics  as  are  attributed  to  this 


152  VINDICATION   OF   THK   TRUE   GOD 

God  of  Moses.  Nor  could  he  possibly  be  guilty 
of  any  such  base  and  detestable  actions,  or  of  any 
of  the  foul  and  atrocious  crimes  that  have  been 
perpetrated  in  the  name  of  the  God  of  Moses. 
But  such  was  the  God  that  Moses  taught  his  peo- 
ple to  believe  in.  He  was  just  such  a  being  as 
would  answer  his  purpose,  and  that  was  all  he 
cared  for.  Just  such  a  being  as  a  shrewd,  cun- 
ning politician  might  use  with  an  ignorant  and 
superstitious  people,  to  help  carry  out  any  scheme 
he  might  project,  and  Moses  took  full  advantage 
of  it.  More  than  two  thousand  years  after 
Moses,  Mahomet  used  the  same  God  in  the  same 
way  that  Moses  did  to  carry  out  his  schemes. 
And  he  performed  his  deceptions  near  the  same 
place  where  Moses  performed  his.  The  Christians 
will  fly  up  and  say,  4f  But  Mahomet  was  a 
deceiver,  an  impostor."  Indeed?  How  do  we 
know  that  he  was  any  more  of  a  deceiver  than 
Moses?  We  have  the  word  of  Mahomet  for  one, 
and  we  have  only  the  word  of  Moses,  (if  indeed 
we  have  as  much  as  that,)  for  the  other.  If 
tested  by  the  number  of  believers,  the  believers 
in  Mahomet  far  outnumber  the  Christians.  As 
Carlyle  says,  "For  these  twelve  centuries  it 
(Mahommedanism)  has  been  the  religion  and 
life  guidance  of  the  fifth  part  of  the  whole  kin- 
dred of  mankind.  Above  all,  it  has  been  a  religion 
heartily  believed."  Joseph  Smith  used  the  same 
God  in  the  same  way,  and  he  had  his  followers. " 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  153 

Previous  to  their  pretended  interview  with 
God,  the  general  character  of  Mahomet  as  well  as 
Smith  was  just  as  good  as  that  of  Moses,  quite 
as  credible  and  worthy  of  belief.  From  the  time 
that>  Moses  was  taken  out  of  the  bulrushes  to  the 
time  he  pretended  that  God  called  him  at  the 
burning  bush,  which  was  about  eighty  years,  all 
we  know  of  him  is  that  he  murdered  an  Egyp- 
tian and  fled  to  the  wilderness  to  escape  punish- 
ment for  that  crime.  Neither  Mahomet  nor  Smith 
ever  personally  committed  any  crime. 

Moses  obtained  employment  to  tend  the  flocks 
of  Jethro,  married  his  daughter,  and  lived  with 
him  about  forty  years  before  God  noticed  him. 
All  this  time  he  was  simply  a  fugitive  from  just- 
ice. Under  these  circumstances,  while  he  was 
attending  to  his  business,  he  pretends  that  this 
God  called  to  him  from  a  bush  that  appeared  to 
be  on  fire  but  was  not  consumed,  and  introduced 
himself  as  follows  :  "I  am  the  God  of  thy  father, 
the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the 
God  of  Jacob.  He  did  not  claim  to  be  the  great 
Creator  of  the  universe  or  the  God  of  all  man- 
kind generally,  but  only  the  God  of  those  partic- 
ular persons  and  their  posterity. 

It  was  the  custom  of  that  age  for  every  people 
to  have  its  own  separate  and  peculiar  God,  and 
Moses  prepared  to  follow  the  fashion.  After  thus 
introducing  himself,  Moses  pretends  that  God  said 


154          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

to  him,  u  I  have  surely  seen  the  affliction  of  my 
people  which  are  in  Egypt."  "And  I  have  come 
down  to  deliver  them  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, and  to  bring  them  up  out  of  that  land  unto 
a  good  land  and  a  large,  unto  a  land  flowing  with 
milk  and  honey,  unto  the  place  of  the  Canaanites, 
and  the  Hittites,  and  the  Amorites,  and  the  Periz- 
zites,  and  the  Hivites,  and  the  Jebusites."  Now 
this  is  what  Moses  pretends  that  God  said  to  him 
at  the  first  interview  he  ever  had  with  him,  when 
he  introduced  himself  and  called  him  at  the  burn- 
ing bush.  It  was  then  and  there  that  the  great 
scheme  was  first  unfolded.  It  was  a  scheme  to 
cut  off  and  destroy  all  those  peoples  who  inhab- 
ited the  land  of  Canaan,  to  give  place  to  the  Israel- 
ites who  were  then  in  bondage  in  Egypt.  This  is 
implied  in  what  is  above  quoted,  but  is  made 
more  clear  and  certain  by  a  subsequent  interview, 
at  which  Moses  represents  that  God  said  to  him 
"  I  will  send  an  angel  before  thee  to  keep  thee  in 
the  way."  "I  will  be  an  enemy  unto  thy  enemies, 
and  an  adversary  unto  thine  adversaries,"  "  and 
bring  thee  in  unto  the  Amorites,  and  the  Hittites, 
and  the  Perizzites,  and  the  Canaanites,  and  the  Hi- 
vites, and  the  Jebusites,  and  I  will  cut  them  off" 
"I  will  send  my  fear  before  thee,  and  will  destroy 
all  the  people  to  whom  thou  shalt  come."  This  is 
the  scheme  which  Moses  pretended  that  his  God 
planned,  devised,  laid  out,  and  ordered  him  to 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF  MOS3S.  155 

undertake  and  execute.  And  to  encourage  and 
strengthen  him,  said  to  him,  "  Certainly,  I  will  be 
with  thee."  Then,  if  we  believe  Moses,  this  was 
all  God's  work,  his  plan,  his  scheme,  his  object, 
devised,  first  suggested,  and  directly  ordered  by 
him.  This  is  the  great,  dominant  and  overruling 
pretence  of  Moses,  and  by  which  all  his  other  pre- 
tences, which  were  all  only,  in  furtherance  of  the 
same  object  and  end,  must  be  judged  of  and  de- 
termined. Is  it  true  that  the  one  only  living  and 
True  God  devised,  first  suggested,  and  ordered  the 
execution  of  that  scheme,  and  promised  to  per- 
sonally assist  in  carrying  it  out  ?  Is  it  true  ?  Was 
it  God's  own  personal  scheme,  or  was  it  only  the 
scheme  of  Moses  ?  On  the  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion depends  the  all  important  question  whether 
Moses  was  a  true  prophet,  and  representative  of 
the  True  God,  or  whether  he  was  an  imposter. 

An  effort  to  rescue  a  worthy  people  from  bond- 
age, and  place  them  where  their  condition  might 
be  improved,  is  certainly  in  and  of  itself  worthy 
of  all  commendation.  But  to  plot  and  plan  and 
scheme  by  superior  force  to  cut  off,  deslr*  y  and 
annihilate  another  distant  and  innocent  people, 
who  never  gave  any  offense,  and  who  had  no 
hand  in  the  enslavement,  in  order  to  give  them  a 
country  exclusively  to  themselves,  is  a  very  dif- 
ferent thing.  It  is  the  plan  of  a  human  or  in- 
human conqueror,  who  tramples  heedlessly  on  the 


156          VINDICATION   OF  THE   TRUK   GOD 

rights  of  others  in  total  disregard  of  justice  and 
all  moral  principle. 

It  was  no  part  of  this  scheme  to  take  the  Israel- 
ites to  Canaan  as  an  army  of  missionaries  to  re- 
form the  people,  to  teach  them  the  knowledge  of 
God,  persuade  them  to  accept,  serve  and  worship 
this  God.  Nothing  of  the  kind.  No  other  peo- 
ple were  to  be  allowed  in  the  circle.  They  would 
not  intermarry  or  associate  with  any  other  people, 
or  allow  them  to  have  any  interest  in  or  claim 
upon  this  God.  He  was  their  own  God,  the  God 
of  Israel  and  of  the  Israelites  exclusively ;  was 
not  the  God  of  any  other  people  ;  "  was  an  ene- 
my of  their  enemies,"  and  all  other  people  must 
be  cut  off  and  destroyed,  so  that  the  Israelites 
might  have  the  whole  country  to  themselves  ex- 
clusively. This  was  the  scheme. 

There  were  to  be  no  friendly  negotiations  to  al- 
low the  Israelites  to  settle  there  peaceably  among 
them,  as  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  had  done, 
and  allow  them  to  adopt  their  own  system  of  wor- 
ship. No,  this  would  not  answer.  The  only 
thing  to  be  done  was  to  cut  off  and  destroy  all 
the  people  to  whom  they  would  come — kill  them 
— put  them  out  of  the  way,  and  seize  and  appro- 
priate all  their  property.  The  justice  and  moral- 
ity of  the  scheme  had  no  weight  with  Moses. 
Moses  coveted  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  his  tenth 
commandment  was  not  allowed  to  interfere  with 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  157 

his  plan.  The  people  that  lived  in  that  land  must 
all  be  cut  off  and  destroyed.  It  was  the  scheme 
of  a  robber  and  murderer  ;  and,  as  it  was  after- 
ward carried  out,  was  one  of  the  blackest,  most 
inhuman  and  atrocious  crimes  ever  committed  by 
man. 

Who  were  the  people  of  Canaan,  who  were  to 
be  thus  cut  off  and  destroyed  to  give  place  to  the 
Israelites  ?  What  kind  of  people  were  they  ? 
Three  of  these  peoples,  namely,  the  Canaanites, 
Perizyites  and  Hittites,  were  the  immediate  neigh- 
bors of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  for  over  two 
hundred  years,  while  they  lived  there,  and  these 
were  probably  a  fair  sample  of  all  the  rest  of 
the  dwellers  in  Canaan.  Some  few  little  inci- 
dents crop  out  in  the  record,  from  which  we  may 
judge  of  their  character.  Abraham,  with  Sarah, 
his  half-sister,  for  a  wife,  came  and  settled  among 
them  about  six  hundred  years  before  the  time  we 
are  now  speaking  of,  and  when  he  came  li  he  was 
rich  in  cattle,  and  in  silver  and  gold."  They  did 
not  attempt  to  rob  him,  or  overreach,  or  take  any 
advantage  of  him,  but  allowed  him  to  settle 
among  them,  and  always  treated  him  with  great 
respect  and  kindness.  '  Those  peoples  inherited 
the  land  from  their  ancestors,  who  had  owned 
and  occupied  it  from  time  immemorial,  and  had 
a  good  right  and  perfect  title  to  it. 

After    Abraham    had    lived  there  some  forty 


158          VINDICATION    OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

years,  more  or  less,  his  wife  Sarah  died,  and  he 
had  no  suitable  place  to  bury  her.  He  modestly 
made  his  want  known  to  his  neighbors,  the  sons 
of  Ileth.  The  sons  of  Ileth  immediately  rose  up 
as  one  man,  and  said  to  him,  "  In  the  choice  of 
our  sepulchres  bury  thy  dead.  None  of  us  shall 
withhold  from  thee  his  sepulchre,  but  that  thou 
mayst  bury  thy  dead."  This  was  a  kind  and  gen- 
erous offer.  Abraham  thanked  them  for  their 
kindness,  but  desired  to  have  a  sepulchre  of  his 
own.  He  knew  of  a  field  which  had  the  cave  of 
Machpelah  in  it,  and  it  was  owned  by  a  man 
named  Epliron^  and  he  desired  that  they  would 
treat  with  Ephron  for  that  field  for  him.  As  soon 
as  Ephron  heard  that  Abraham  wanted  the  field 
for  a  burial  place,  he  immediately  came  forward, 
a  noble  soul,  and  said,  "  My  lord,  the  field  give  I 
thee,  and  the  cave  that  is  therein,  I  give  it  thee. 
In  the  presence  of  the  sons  of  my  people,  give  I 
it  thee.  Bury  thy  dead."  But  as  Abraham  was 
rich,  he  did  not  wish  to  receive  it  as  a  gift.  He 
chose  to  pay  for  it,  and  therefore  desired  Ephron 
to  set  a  price  upon  it.  In  compliance  with 
that  request,  the  generous-hearted  Ephron  said, 
"  My  lord,  hearken  to  me4 ;  the  land  is  worth  four 
hundred  shekels  of  silver ;  what  is  that  betwixt  me 
and  thee  ?  Bury,  therefore,  thy  dead  ?  "  He 
did  not  try  to  drive  a  sharp  bargain,  did  not  want 
to  take  money  for  it ;  but  Abraham  weighed  out 


AGAINST  TH£  GOD  OF  MOS^S.          159 

tlie  silver,  which  Epliron  reluctantly  received,  and 
passed  the  title.  The  same  people  were  equally 
kind  and  friendly  with  Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  so 
they  lived  friendly  neighbors  for  more  than  two 
hundred  years.  From  these  incidents  we  may 
judge  of  the  character  of  that  people.  They  were 
a  generous,  noble-hearted,  magnanimous  people. 
And  yet  these  are  the  people,  specially  named 
among  others,  whom  Moses  pretended  that  God 
ordered  to  be  "  cut  off  and  destroyed,"  and  their 
land  and  property  seized  and  appropriated  by  the 
descendants  of  the  very  man  to  whom  all  this 
kindness  and  generosity  was  shown.  Is  it  true? 
Was  this  God's  scheme,  or  the  scheme  of  Moses  ? 
A  scheme  that  was  never  excelled  on  earth  for 
downright  hellish  atrocity.  Did  Moses  tell  the 
truth  ?  Was  it  God's  scheme  ?  Did  God  origin- 
ate, devise,  and  out  of  the  flames  of  a  burning 
bush  order  its  execution  ?  Or  was  it  the  scheme 
of  Moses,  wholly  devised  by  him,  and  by  him 
falsely  charged  upon  God  ?  We  have  nothing 
but  the  word  of  Moses  for  it.  Is  it  possible  to 
believe  him  ?  Did  he  tell  the  truth  ? 

The  scheme  was  successful,  and  was  carried  out 
to  the  letter.  All  those  innocent,  unoffending, 
noble  people  were  "cut  off  and  destroyed,"  all 
their  property  taken  by  the  Israelites;  and  the 
deceptive  glamour  of  success  gilded  with  the 
shining  garbs  of  righteousness  all  the  crimes  and 


l6o          VINDICATION   OF   THE)   TRUB   GOD 

atrocities  that  were  committed  to  accomplish  it; 
and  it  is  claimed  that  they  were  noble,  honorable, 
praiseworthy,  glorious  deeds, — the  cause  of  hu- 
manity, the  cause  of  righteousness,  the  cause  of 
God.  And  ever  since  Moses  has  been  lauded  as 
the  most  worthy  of  all  men,  the  greatest  patriot, 
the  greatest  benefactor  of  the  race,  a  model  of 
excellency,  the  grand  vicegerent  and  foremost 
prophet  of  God,  and  the  prototype  of  Christ. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  MOTIVE  or  MOSES. 

ASSUMING,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that 
Moses  in  his  stories  referred  to  the  True  God, 
when  we  can  readily  see  a  motive  for  making  a 
remarkable  pretence  of  private,  personal  intimacy 
with  God,  and  receiving  special  communications 
and  directions  from  him,  we  have  a  right  to  use 
that  motive  and  all  attendant  circumstances  to 
test  the  credibility  of  the  pretence.  If  we  find 
the  motive  strong,  and  the  pretence  of  something 
miraculous  contrary  to  human  experience,  this 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  l6l 

of  itself  is  sufficient  to  justify  a  strong  doubt  of 
its  truth.  But,  above  all,  if  the  pretence  be  in- 
consistent with  and  antagonistic  to  the  character 
of  God,  we  are  forced  to  conclude  that  it  is  false, 
without  reference  to  motive,  for  God  must  be  true 
to  himself  though  it  prove  every  man  to  be  a  liar. 

We  have  no  evidence  at  all  but  the  bare  word 
of  Moses  that  God  appeared  and  talked  to  him. 
While  we  may  admit  that  it  is  not  impossible  for 
God  to  make  a  direct,  personal,  verbal  communi- 
cation to  a  human  being,  nevertheless  it  would  be 
so  inconsistent  with  human  experience,  and  so 
miraculous,  that  the  testimony  of  one  man  would 
hardly  be  sufficient  to  entitle  a  single  instance  of 
it  to  belief.  If  he  should  do  anything  of  the 
kind,  it  surely  would  be  in  regard  to  something  of 
public  interest  and  importance  ;  and  it  is  incredi- 
ble that  he  would  do  it  off  in  a  remote  by-place, 
privately  and  secretly  to  one  person,  and  not  gen- 
erally to  all,  or  at  least  to  many. 

We  discredit  the  stories  of  Mahomet  and  Joseph 
Smith  about  communications  claimed  to  have  been 
made  in  this  way,  and  where  we  do  not  find  any 
very  unworthy  motive,  —  nothing  more  than  a 
desire  to  have  others  believe  as  they  did.  Then 
why  not  discredit  the  story  of  Moses  ?  What 
better  right  have  we  to  believe  Moses  than  Ma- 
homet and  Smith  ?  From  what  we  know  of  the 
men,  Moses  was  personally  no  better  or  more  en- 


1 62  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

titled  to  credit  than  either  of  the  others.  Neither 
of  them  ever  personally  committed  a  murder  or 
other  crime.  And  neither  of  them  ever  planned 
or  instigated  a  scheme  to  cut  oft'  and  destroy  a 
whole  nation  of  worthy  people,  or  any  people,  to 
make  room  for  their  followers.  On  the  contrary, 
they  were  always  ready  to  receive  all  that  were 
willing  to  join  them.  If  God  visited  and  talked 
with  Moses,  why  may  he  not  have  done  the  same 
with  Mahomet  and  Smith  ?  They  were  quite  as 
respectable,  and  their  motives  were  certainly  full 
as  good. 

It  is  particularly  incredible  that  God  should 
take  such  a  special  interest  in  the  Israelites,  and 
have  more  regard  for  them  than  he  had  for  the 
Egyptians,  or  the  Canaanites,  or  any  other  peo- 
ple. They  certainly  were  no  better,  or  more 
worthy.  They  were  pagans,  and  quite  as  much 
so  as  any  of  the  other  people.  But  if  he  chose 
to  do  so,  it  is  incredible  that  he  should  have  gone 
to  Moses  alone  in  the  wilderness,  and,  in  a  clan- 
destine way,  ordered  and  directed  him  to  take 
steps  to  ameliorate  their  condition  in  such  a  way 
as  Moses  pretended,  when  there  was  a  much 
easier,  more  direct  and  certain  way  of  accomplish- 
ing the  object.  Here  is  an  instance  where  Moses 
did  not  credit  his  God  with  a  high  order  of  wis- 
dom and  sagacity.  The  Israelites  were  then  in 
a  rich  and  delightful  country.  And  if  God,  in- 


AGAINST  THK   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  163 

stead  of  going  to  Moses  off  in  the  wilderness, 
had  appeared  directly  to  Pharoah,  made  him 
conscious  of  his  personal  presence,  and  requested 
him  to  see  that  they  were  properly  treated,  it 
would,  most  certainly,  have  been  attended  to  at 
once.  Besides,  Pharoah  and  all  Jiis  subjects  would 
have  been  exceedingly  delighted  with  the  oppor- 
tunity of  thus  being  made  personally  acquainted 
with  God.  This  is  just  what  they  and  everybody 
else  then  were,  and  ever  since  have  been,  most 
intensely  desirous  of  and  anxious  for.  Everything 
earthly  then  (or  now)  would  readily  have  been 
exchanged  for  it.  There  are  many  fanatics  and 
enthusiasts  now,  who  claim  and  pretend  to  have 
such  a  personal  acquaintance ;  but  God  knows 
they  are  all  liars. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  great,  all-absorbing,  and 
controlling  motive  and  main  object  Moses  had  in 
view  was  not  merely  to  rescue  his  race  from 
bondage, — that  was  only  an  insignificant  part  of  it, 
— but  to  conquer,  subdue,  "  cut  off  and  destroy  " 
all  the  people  of  Canaan,  a  large  and  delightful 
country,  and  give  it  to  his  people.  He  had  set 
his  heart  upon  that  particular  country.  He 
would  not  be  satisfied  with  obtaining  control  and 
governing  it  and  the  people  that  lived  there. 
His  scheme  was  to  butcher,  murder,  cut  off  and 
destroy  them  all  by  an  universal  and  indiscrim- 
inate slaughter,  and  give  his  people  most  exclu- 


164          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

sive  possession  of  it.  This  was  the  scheme  Moses 
devised  and  set  his  heart  upon.  This  was  his 
great  controlling  motive,  and  everything  else  was 
subordinate  to  it.  And  he  used  his  absurd  and 
childish  ideas  of  God  as  among  the  most  efficient 
means  to  accomplish  that  purpose. 

To  judge  of  the  power  and  effect  of  this  motive 
upon  the  mind  of  Moses,  we  must  take  into  con- 
sideration the  great  magnitude  of  the  main  object 
he  had  in  view, — that  of  acquiring  the  land  of 
Canaan, — the  age  in  which  he  lived,  all  his  cir- 
cumstances and  surroundings,  his  opinion  and  be- 
lief in  regard  to  creation  ;  and  more  particularly 
his  iJeas  and  belief  in  regard  to  God,  what  kind 
of  a  being  he  supposed  him  to  be, — the  gross 
ignorance  of  his  people,  how  easy  it  was  to  make 
such  a  people  believe  that  God  had  appeared  and 
talked  to  him  ;  also  the  prevailing  opinions  and 
beliefs  of  people  generally  at  that  time  on  those 
subjects.  All  these  things  have  a  direct  bearing 
upon  the  point. 

It  was  customary  in  those  days  for  rulers  to 
use  pretended  directions  and  communications 
from  their  gods  with  their  ignorant  subjects,  to 
excite  enthusiasm,  to  promote  their  personal  de- 
signs. Moses,  undoubtedly,  used  his  God  in  the 
same  way.  A  very  important  piece  of  evidence 
to  prove  that  his  God  was  of  the  kind  that  might 
be  so  used,  is  the  fact  that  he  pretended  that  he 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OP   MOSKS.  165 

saw  him,  and  described  him  as  having  a  human 
form,  with  feet,  hands,  a  face  too  glorious  to  be 
looked  upon  with  mortal  eyes,  but  with  "  back 
parts  "  which  he  was  permitted  to  see.  Can  any- 
body really  believe  this  ?  This  obvious  falsehood 
is  alone  sufficient  to  prove  that  Moses  was  an  im- 
poster.  Whether  it  relates  to  the  True  God  or  to 
an  imaginary  being,  it  is  equally  false.  It  cer- 
tainly is  false  as  to  the  True  God,  and  cannot  pos- 
sibly be  true  of  an  imaginary  being.  This  proves 
that,  when  Moses  told  that  story,  he  was  lying, 
lying,  lying.  He  deliberately  told  his  people  a 
falsehood,  for  the  purpose  of  inducing  them  to 
believe  that  he  had  personal  intimacy  with  God. 
And  it  had  that  effect,  as  he  knew  it  would  with 
the  ignorant  people  he  was  then  dealing  with; 
but  it  should  have  quite  the  opposite  effect  with 
people  nowadays.  It  is  just  one  of  those  things 
which  often  happens  now,  where  a  false  witness, 
in  his  effort  to  insure  a  belief  of  his  false  story, 
unwittingly  over  acts,  makes  his  story  a  little  too 
strong,  and  says  or  does  something  which  betrays 
its  falsity.  There  was  not  much  danger  of  this  as 
between  Moses  and  his  ignorant  people ;  but  with 
people  of  this  age,  who  are  not  crazed  or  demented 
with  superstition  and  ignorance,  it  must  prove 
that  he  was  deceiving  his  people ;  that  he  told 
them  a  deliberate  falsehood,  and  that  he  was  an 
imposter. 


166  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

The  falsity  of  his  pretences  is  also  betrayed  by 
the  fact  that  he  did  not  dare  or  attempt  to  rely 
and  act  upon  what  he  pretended  God  promised 
to  do.  He  did  not  dare  to  attempt  to  lead  his 
people  directly  to  Canaan  just  as  they  were,  and 
rely  upon  the  promise  of  God  to  "  cut  off  and 
destroy  all  the  people  to  whom  he  would  come.'' 
If  it  had  been  true  as  he  pretended,  that  God  had 
so  promised,  they  would  have  no  serious  fighting 
to  do  themselves,  and  he  might  have  led  them 
direct  the  shortest  route  to  Canaan,  and  had  them 
all  settle  there  in  less  time  than  it  took  to  go  to 
Sinai.  But  Moses  was  too  wise  and  cunning  to 
attempt  such  an  experiment.  This  clearly  shows 
that  he  was  using  an  imaginary  God.  That  all 
his  pretences  were  false,  and  made  for  the  effect 
they  would  have  upon  his  people,  to  keep  them 
under  his  control  and  keep  them  quiet,  while  he 
attended  to  the  real  business.  They  were  a  raw, 
unorganized  rabble,  and  would  have  stood  no 
chance  against  the  Canaanites.  They  would  have 
been  totally  annihilated.  Moses  well  knew  that 
when  they  were  lead  to  Canaan  his  God  would 
expect  to  be  on  the  strongest  side,  and  that  it 
would  be  folly  to  take  them  there  until  they  were 
fully  able  to  do  the  business  without  relying  upon 
special  assistance  from  God.  The  cunning  Moses, 
like  all  such  men,  had  ready  a  plausible  excuse. 
If  the  mountain  would  not  come  to  Mahomet,  his 


AGAINST  THE  GOD  OF  MOSKS.  167 

God  would  suddenly  change  his  mind,  and  order 
Mahomet  to  go  to  the  mountain.  The  excuse 
Moses  had  was,  that  while  they  were  all  together, 
before  they  would  be  scattered  all  over  the  land 
of  Canaan,  he  wanted  to  introduce  and  teach  them 
his  system  of  worship.  So,  instead  of  attempting 
to  lead  them  directly  to  Canaan,  like  Mahomet, 
he  went  to  the  mountain . — Mt.  Sinai.  There  he 
dallied  with  them  for  a  lon£  time,  introduced  his 

O  7 

deceptive  and  ridiculous  system  of  worship,  and 
with  it  diverted  their  minds,  while  he  attended 
most  assiduously  to  the  main  business,  which  was 
to  organize,  drill  and  train  all  able-bodied  men 
into  an  army  of  soldiers. 

His  system  of  worship,  like  his  pretences,  was 
all  a  deception  and  a  fraud.  It  was  the  same  kind 
of  worship  that  had  been  used  for  centuries  by 
other  heathen  nations  towards  their  imaginary 
Gods,  and  it  was  adopted  by  Moses  for  the  same 
purpose  that  other  heathens  used  it,  namely,  as  a 
means  of  supporting  a  priesthood.  Moses  well 
knew  that  no  real,  intelligent  God  could  be  hon- 
ored or  pleased  by  the  killing  and  roasting  of 
dumb  animals.  It  is  ridiculous  to  suppose  that  he 
could  be.  It  is  evident  that  it  was  adopted  and 
used  by  him  to  deceive  the  common  people,  the 
producers,  into  the  belief  that  it  was  a  sacred 
duty,  required  by  God,  to  contribute  of  their  sub- 
stance for  his  service.  And  this  answered  a 


1 68          VINDICATION   OF  THE   TRUE  GOD 

double  purpose.  First,  the  contributions  supported 
the  army  of  priests  and  levites,  who  thereby  be- 
came personally  interested  to  support  his  system 
and  all  his  pretences ;  and  secondly,  it  diverted 
the  minds  of  the  people,  while  Moses  himself  was 
attending  to  the  more  serious  business  of  forming 
an  army. 

The  human  traits  and  characteristics  which 
Moses  ascribes  to  his  God,  such  as  partiality, 
jealousy,  vanity,  deceit,  injustice,  cruelty,  etc., 
prove  that  he  had  no  adequate  or  proper  concep- 
tion of  the  character  of  the  True  God,  for  it  is 
impossible  that  the  True  God  can  have  any  such 
characteristics. 

The  collateral  stories  that  are  told  about  the 
plagues,  the  dividing  of  the  waters  of  the  Red 
Sea  and  the  Jordan,  and  causing  the  sun  and 
moon  to  stand  still  for  about  a  whole  day  to  accom- 
modate Joshua,  and  all  the  other  remarkable 
stories,  so  far  from  tending  to  corroborate  and 
promote  belief  in  the  pretences  of  Moses,  are  so 
absurd  and  ridiculously  false  that  they  have  the 
effect,  like  his  pretence  that  he  saw  the  person  of 
God,  only  to  cast  a  Munchausen  hue  over  the 
whole.  If  there  had  been  any  truth  in  those 
stories,  some  mention,  or  at  least  some  hint,  of 
them  would  have  appeared  in  the  history  or  tra- 
ditions of  Egypt  and  other  countries. 

Morality,  right  and  justice  were  not  considered 


.    AGAINST  THE  GOD   OF  MOSES.  169 

in  forming  his  scheme.  They  had  no  weight  with 
Moses.  The  doctrine  that  might  makes  right 
was  adopted  by  him  as  it  was  by  other  people  in 
that  age.  In  his  pretences  he  took  it  for  granted 
that  his  God  agreed  with  him  ;  held  the  same 
views  that  he  did.  This  fact  detects,  exposes, 
proves  and  establishes  the  falsity  of  his  pretences 
beyond  a  doubt  as  to  the  True  God.  For  the  true 
God  certainly  did  not,  could  not,  agree  with  him. 
It  is  plain  to  see  that  the  motive  and  object 
Moses  had  in  view  was  sufficient  —  with  such  ab- 
surd and  ridiculous  ideas  as  he  had  of  God, — to 
induce  him  to  make  any  pretence  that  lie  thought 
might  have  a  favorable  impression  on  the  minds 
of  his  people,  and  help  him  to  carry  out  his  scheme. 
Other  conquerors  have  cruelly  invaded  and  con- 
quered countries  without  right,  and  occasioned 
much  bloodshed  and  suffering.  They  did  it  to 
acquire  control  and  extend  their  government  over 
the  people.  No  human  wretch  but  Moses,  how- 
ever, ever  planned  to  kill,  cut  off  and  destroy  all 
the  inhabitants  of  the  country  they  proposed  to 
conquer.  Moses  could  not  be  satisfied  with  any- 
thing short  ef  the  entire  extermination  of  all  the 
inhabitants  of  Canaan.  That  was  the  scheme  he 
set  his  heart  upon,  and  the  motive  power  of  all 
his  actions.  But  it  was  too  horrible  to  be  sug- 
gested even  to  his  own  people,  on  his  own  respon- 
sibility alone.  They  might  see  that  it  was  un- 


170          VINDICATION  OF  THE  TRUE   GOD 

just,  too  cruel.  Besides,  they  might  think,  How 
can  we  do  it  ?  We  are  not  strong  enough  to  go 
and  kill  all  the  inhabitants  of  Canaan.  They 
would  kill  us.  We  had  better  stay  where  we  are. 
Moses  saw  this,  and  so  he  determined  to  charge  it 
upon  God,  pretend  that  God  had  appeared  to 
him  and  ordered  it  to  be  done,  and  promised  to 
assist  in  doing  it.  To  open  even  this  story  to 
them  required  great  care  and  consideration. 

It  would  be  necessary  that  they  should  be  first 
impressed  with  the  belief  that  God  did  at  times 
u  come  down,"  and  visit  and  talk  with  mankind, 
and  tell  them  what  to  do.  So  he  shaped  the  old 
traditions  to  meet  the  case,  had  it  instilled  into 
their  minds  how  he  "  came  down,"("  came  down  " 
was  an  important  idea,)  and  talked  with  Adam 
and  with  Noah.  He  fabricated  all  the  traditions 
about  the  visits  to  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob.  I 
say  fabricated,  for  there  is  no  proof  of  them  ex- 
cept his  word.  Told  them  how  God  promised  to 
give  the  whole  land  of  Canaan  to  their  seed. 
This  was  said  to  make  them  believe  that  they  had 
a  divine  right  to  that  country.  Pretended  that 
God  told  Abraham  that  they  would  be  strangers 
in  a  strange  land  for  four  hundred  years,  (which 
was  said  to  correspond  with  what  had  happened 
to  them,)  but  that  after  that  time  they  would 
come  out  "  with  much  substance  "  and  possess 
the  land.  And  this  is  the  sum  and  substance  of 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  171 

all  the  revelations  made  to  those  patriarchs, — 
that  their  seed  should  have  all  Canaan.  What  an 
important  revelation !  These  stories  show  and 
prove  the  scheming  of  a  politician. 

It  was  great  business  for  God  to  "  come  down  " 
three  several  times, — first  to  Abraham,  then  to 
Isaac,  and  afterward  to  Jacob, — to  reveal  those 
particular  things  and  nothing  else,  and  then  say 
nothing  more  about  them  to  anybody  for  four 
hundred  years,  and  until  Moses  came.  It  shows 
how  important  Moses  thought  it  was  that  his  peo- 
ple should  be  thoroughly  impressed  with  the  idea 
that  they  had  a  divine  right  to  Canaan,  and  this 
is  the  reason  why  he  invented  and  shaped  the 
patriarchal  traditions  as  we  now  find  them,  so  as 
just  to  tally  with  his  scheme. 

In  this  way  he  prepared  the  minds  of  his  peo- 
ple to  receive  his  great  and  leading  and  all-impor- 
tant pretence.  But  it  was  necessary  that  even 
that,  should  be  accompanied  by  something  that 
was  marvelous,  striking  and  mysterious,  to  excite 
their  superstitious  notions,  or  they  might  not  be- 
lieve him.  So  he  invented  the  idea  of  having 
God  call  to  him  from  a  bush  that  seemed  to  be 
blazing  with  fire  while  it  was  not  consumed.  No- 
body else  saw  it.  lie  was  all  alone,  off  in  the 
wilderness.  They  had  no  proof  of  it  but  his 
word.  But  the  story  was  so  novel  and  wonder- 
ful it  excited  their  curiosity,  and  was  sufficiently 


172          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

marvelous  to  satisfy  superstition,  and  so  they  lis- 
tened and  believed.  Then  he  unfolded  what  he 
pretended  that  God  said  to  him,  and  particularly 
that  God  promised  to  be  with  him  and  help 
carry  it  out.  Nothing  more  was  necessary.  This 
was  sufficiently  wonderful.  It  captivated  their 
pagan  hearts,  and  secured  their  confidence  in 
Moses.  "  Surely,"  (they  thought,)  "  God  must 
be  with  him,"  and  they  were  ready  to  believe 
anything  he  might  say.  The  scheme  pleased 
the,m.  It  tallied  with  their  desires,  and  as  God 
was  going  to  see  them  through  they  had  nothing 
to  fear.  They  were  transported  with  delight,  and 
longed  for  the  time  to  come  to  start.  They  could 
almost  taste  the  milk  and  honey  of  Canaan.  It 
was  not  a  great  way  off.  They  could  reach  it  in 
a  few  days.  And  then  what  delight  to  be  free, 
— the  owners  of  the  land  !  — to  sit  under  their  own 
vine  and  fig  tree,  and  enjoy  the  fruit  at  their  leis- 


ure 


Little  did  they  think  of  the  sufferings  and 
hardships  they  would  have  to  undergo  before 
they  reached  Canaan.  Moses  understood  it  all. 
He  knew  that  it  would  require  much  time  and 
labor  to  prepare  them  to  go  to  Canaan  with  any 
hope  of  success ;  that  it  would  be  necessary  to 
make  soldiers  of  them,  and  organize  them  into  a 
powerful  army.  His  pretences  were  for  the  peo- 
ple, and  were  designed  to  comfort  and  pacify  the 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  173 

people  bolster  up  their  courage,  and  keep  them 
quiet  while  he  directed  the  necessary  work.  His 
actions  plainly  show  that  he  was  not  relying  up- 
on the  assistance  of  God,  but  was  intent  to  have 
the  people  think  and  feel  so.  He  did  not  venture 
to  lead  them  direct  to  Canaan,  but  took  them  to 
Sinai,  and  there  diverted  their  minds  with  his 
ridiculous  system  of  worship  while  he  organized 
them  into  an  army. 

This  leads  us  to  consider  the  most  important 
of  all  questions  touching  the  pretences  of  Moses, 
and  that  is,  How  do  they  stand  as  respects  the 
True  God, — as  respects  the  question  of  right, 
justice,  and  morality  involved  in  them?  This  is 
another  and  the  most  important  instance  where 
Moses  has  unwittingly  furnished  most  incontesta- 
ble proof  of  their  falsity.  As  we  have  seen,  he 
had  no  just,  proper,  or  reasonable  idea  or  con- 
ception of  the  True  God,  or  any  correct  ideas  of 
right  and  justice  among  men — not  at  all  superior 
to  other  heathen.  All  his  ideas,  notions,  opinions 
and  belief  in  regard  to  these  things  were  rude, 
childish,  and  heathenish.  They  were  all  shaped, 
colored  and  beclouded  by  the  ignorance  of  the 
age  in  which  he  lived.  He  was  a  heathen,  in  a 
whole  world  of  heathens.  He  supposed  his  own 
ideas  of  right  and  justice  were  correct,  and  he 
had  no  doubt  but  that  God,  as  he  imagined  him 
to  be,  entertained  the  same  views  and  ideas  that 


174          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

he  did,  and  he  therefore  assumed  such  to  be 
the  fact.  He  had  no  idea  but  that  the  God  he 
had  imagined  considered  it  right  and  just  to  se- 
lect out  and  have  a  peculiar  people,  make  them 
the  special  recipients  of  all  his  favors,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  all  the  rest  of  mankind  ;  and  that  it 
would  be  right  and  just  to  cut  off  and  destroy  all 
the  inhabitants  of  Canaan  to  make  room  for  the 
Israelites.  And  he  instilled  those  ideas  into  the 
minds  of  his  people.  Such  were  the  prevailing 
opinions  among  men  of  that  age.  And  Moses 
was  in  no  way  superior  to  them  on  moral  or  re- 
ligious questions.  All  took  it  for  granted  that 
might  makes  right,  and  had  but  little,  if  any,  re- 
gard for  the  rights  of  others,  or  any  moral  prin- 
ciple. 

It  was  the  common  practice  among  all  the 
other  nations,  on  important  occasions,  through 
priests,  oracles,  soothsayers,  etc.,  to  have  the  will 
and  wishes  of  their  gods  declared  to  the  common 
people,  to  inspire  their  enthusiasm  and  devotion 
to  a  cause.  But  the  rulers  determined  what  their 
gods  should  be  represented  as  saying.  Moses 
undoubtedly  had  the  same  notions,  and  resorted 
to  precisely  the  same  means  to  accomplish  his 
purposes.  He  thought  it  all  right,  that  his  god 
agreed  with  him,  and  therefore  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  represent  that  God  appeared  to  him  at  the 
burning  bush,  and  suggested,  ordered,  directed, 


AGAINST  THK   GOD   OF   MOSES.  175 

and  promised  to  assist  to  carry  out  that  atrocious 
scheme.  But  his  ignorance  of  the  character  of 
the  True  God  betrays  the  falsity  of  all  his  pre- 
tences. If  there  had  been  the  semblance  of  any 
excuse  for  it,  any  show  of  right  or  justice,  any 
reasonable  provocation,  we  might  think  differ- 
ently of  it.  But  there  was  none.  The  dwellers 
in  Canaan  treated  their  ancestors  with  great  re- 
spect, kindness  and  friendship  for  more  than  two 
hundred  years,  anil  showed  that  they  were  a  gen- 
erous and  noble  people.  They  were  pagans,  to 
be  sure,  but  no  more  so  than  the  Israelites ;  and 
this  scheme  to  cut  off  and  destroy  them  was  one 
of  the  basest,  meanest,  most  ungrateful,  detesta- 
ble and  abominable  that  ever  disgraced  the  hu- 
man race.  So  the  ignorant,  false  and  absurd 
ideas  which  Moses  had  of  God,  and  of  right  and 
justice,  and  his  own  heart-cruelty,  which  are  em- 
bodied in  his  scheme,  entrap  him  and  betray  all 
his  pretences,  prove  that  the  scheme  originated 
in  his  own  mind, —  the  mind  of  a  covetous,  un- 
just, and  bloodthirsty  human  monster, — and  that 
all  his  pretences  in  regard  to  God  were  false  : 
That  he  was  an  imposter,  and  the  great  father  of 
all  imposters.  The  True  God  could  not  possibly 
have  had  anything  to  do  with  it. 

But  although  Moses  exceeded  all  others  in  un- 
grateful, unprovoked  and  inhuman  cruelty,  the 
ignorant  ideas  and  opinions  which  prevailed 


176          VINDICATION   OF   THK   TRUE   GOD 

among  men  in  his  age  might, perhaps, furnish  some 
little  palliation  for  him  personally,  lut  not  for 
God.  We  must  suppose  and  assume  that  God 
knew  just  as  much  then  as  he  does  now,  and  that 
he  had  the  same  ideas  and  views  of  right,  truth, 
and  justice  then  as  now.  It  is  therefore  impossible 
that  he  could  have  suggested,  originated  and 
promised  to  assist  in  carrying  out  any  such  unjust 
and  cruel  scheme.  It  is  inconsistent,  antagonis- 
tic, and  repugnant  to  his  nature  and  character. 
And  this  is  the  crucial  test  of  all  the  pretences  of 
Moses :  when  it  is  pretended  that  God  is  partial, 
or  that  he  has  originated,  suggested,  ordered,  or 
promised  to  assist  in  carrying  out  any  wrong, 
unjust  and  cruel  scheme,  we  may  know,  with  un- 
erring certainty,  that  it  is  false.  He  would  not, 
could  not  do  it.  "  Let  God  be  true  and  every 
man  a  liar."  The  whole  question,  therefore,  re- 
solves itself  to  this:  Is  God  ever  and  always  true 
to  his  own  character,  true  to  himself?  If  he  is, 
then  the  pretences  of  Moses  were  false,  for  they 
are  entirely  inconsistent  and  antagonistic  to  each 
other.  Then,  which  shall  we  believe,  God  or 
Moses  ?  Which  kind  of  faith  shall  we  have,  faith 
in  God  or  faith  in  Moses? 

We  have  nothing  but  the  word  of  Moses  to 
prove  anything  which  he  pretends  that  God  said 
to  him.  Does  the  mere  word  of  Moses  outweigh 
the  character  of  God  ?  Is  the  testimony  of  Moses 


AGAINST   THK    GOD   OF   MOSKS.  177 

sufficient  to  convict  God  of  the  abominable  crime 
of  plotting  and  planning  and  employing  him  to 
assist  to  "  cut  off  and  destroy"  all  the  noble  in- 
1  abitants  of  Canaan  and  steal  their  property  ?  Is 
the  testimony  of  Moses  alone  sufficient  to  prove 
that  God  was  guilty  as  a  "  particeps  criminis." 
and  accessory,  before  the  fact,  of  stealing  the 
jewels  of  gold  and  silver  and  the  wearing  apparel 
of  the  Egyptians,  arid  running  away  with  them, 
or  playing  double  with  Pharaoh?  Can  the  testi- 
mony of  Moses  alone  thus  prevail  against  the  in- 
tegrity and  outweigh  the  character  of  God  ? 

I  do  not  believe  that  God  appeared  and  said 
any  such  thing  to  Moses,  as  Moses  said  he  did,  at 
a  burning  bush,  because  it  involves  and  implies 
partiality,  injustice  and  cruelty  on  the  part  of 
God,  which  are  utterly  inconsistent  with  and  an- 
tagonistic to  his  character;  and  that  fact,  to  my 
mind,  stamps  the  whole  story  of  Moses  as  a  false- 
hood, and  Moses  himself  as  an  imposter.  To  me, 
the  character  of  God  is  much  higher  evidence  than 
the  word  of  Moses.  The  trouble  with  religion 
and  the  religious  world  is,  that  it  sets  Moses  above 
God.  Moses  is  believed  in  preference  to  God. 
The  character  of  God  has  no  weight,  no  standing, 
against  the  testimony  of  Moses.  The  word  of 
Moses  is  the  only  evidence  that  is  to  be  regarded. 
His  word  is  conclusive,  and  to  doubt  Moses  and 
his  absurd  pretences  is  a  monstrous  sin.  Hence, 


178          VINDICATION    OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

Moses  must  be  allowed  to  charge  God  with  par- 
tiality, jealousy,  vanity,  cruelty,  double-dealing, 
petty  larceny,  and  claim  (hat  he  saw  the  "  back 
parts"  of  his  person,  and  that  august  Being  must 
sit  still  on  his  throne,  listen  to  and  allow  his  creat- 
ures to  believe  all  those  infamous  blasphemies, 
without  being  allowed  to  interpose  proof  of  good 
character,  or  saying  a  word  in  his  own  defense ; 
for  Moses  was  boss,  and  wanted  Canaan ;  there- 
fore, God  must  not  be  allowed  to  say  a  word,  ex- 
cept what  Moses  told  him  to  say,  or  impiously  pre- 
sumed to  say  for  him,  for  fear  it  might  upset  the 
scheme.  Such  is  the  ridiculous  absurdity  and 
fanaticism  of  religion.  What  kind  of  a  doctrine 
is  this  for  intelligent  beings  to  believe  ?  So,  here, 
the  question  again  recurs  to  us,  as  reasonable  be- 
ings, which  shall  we  believe,  —  God  or  Moses? 

O     ' 

Who  are  infidels  ?  The  word  infidel  is  used  as 
a  term  of  reproach  by  the  followers  of  the  two 
paramount  impostors  of  the  world,  Moses  and 
Mahomet,  toward  the  followers  of  each  other, 
and  it  is  freely  bandied  between  them.  The 
Christian  says,  "  You  are  an  infidel,"  and  the 
Mahommedan  quickly  retorts,  "  You  are  another." 
Both  enjoy  the  luxury  of  having  the  same  kind  of 
mud  thrown  in  their  faces,  and  it  is  a  pretty 
evenly  drawn  game  between  them.  The  Mahom- 
medan has  a  little  the  advantage,  in  having  by 
far  the  larger  number  and  the  most  devout  and 


AGAINST  THE;  GOD  OF  MOSES.          179 

faithful  believers;  but  the  Christians  counterbal- 
ance this  somewhat  by  having  on  their  side 
Moses,  the  great  original  father  of  all  impostors. 
It  seems  to  be  agreed  between  them,  that  all  who 
do  not  believe  in  either  Moses  or  Mahomet  are 
surely  infidels.  Faith  in  God  counts  for  nothing, 
unless  you  take  one  of  these  impostors  with  you. 
You  must  take  either  Moses  or  Mahomet  or,  you 
are  surely  an  infidel.  And  neither  of  these  will 
shield  you  from  the  slang  of  the  other.  So  all 
are  sure  of  being  accounted  infidels  by  many, 
whatever  they  believe.  But  those  who  have 
faith  in  God  alone  as  he  has  portrayed  himself  in 
his  mighty  works,  and  reject  all  impostors  and 
false  prophets,  can  well  afford  to  bear  the  intended 
insult  for  a  while.  "  Let  the  heathen  rage  and 
the  people  imagine  a  vain,"  ridiculous  and  absurd 
thing.  The  truth  will  find  its  way  at  last,  and 
the  believers  in  the  True  God  will  eventually  be 
fully  vindicated. 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  is  obvious  that 
the  desire  of  Moses  to  acquire  Canaan  for  his 
people  was  the  dominant  and  controlling  motive 
of  all  his  actions,  and  induced  him  to  make  such 
pretences  in  regard  to  God  as  he  thought  best 
calculated  to  stimulate  and  encourage  the  people, 
and  at  the  same  time  inspire  them  with  confidence 
in  himself,  and  that  there  is  no  truth  in  them. 
His  ignorant,  false,  absurd  and  heathenish  belief 


ISO          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUK   GOD 

made  of  his  God,  to  his  mind,  just  such  a  being 
as  he  might  use  for  that  purpose.  His  ideas  of 
God  were  the  same  as  surrounding  heathen  nations 
had  of  their  gods.  He  was  himself  a  pagan,  and 
educated  as  such.  Each  claimed  their  god  to  be 
the  original  god,  and  the  greatest  and  best  of  all. 
Moses  used  his  god  in  the  same  way,  worshipped 
him  in  the  same  way,  as  other  heathen  people  did 
theirs;  made  just  the  same  kind  of  pretences  of 
receiving  direct  communications  from  him  as  he 
pleased.  And  the  nature  and  character  of  the 
communications  he  pretended  to  receive  betray 
their  falsity,  and  prove  him  to  be  an  impostor. 
All  his  pretences  emanated  solely  from  his  own 
brain,  and  could  not  possibly  have  had  any  divine 
origin. 

A  god  that  would  or  could  from  all  others  se- 
lect out  any  one  people,  and  such  a  people  as  the 
Israelites  then  were,  to  be  the  recipients  of  all  his 
favors  and  regard, — even  condescended  to  steal 
jewelry  and  wearing  apparel  for  them,  and  order 
other  people  to  be  "cut  off  and  destroyed,"  to 
give  place  to  them,  would  not  deserve  or  be  en- 
titled to  any  reverence  or  respect  from  anybody. 
He  could  be  regarded  only  as  an  arbitrary  tyrant, 
who  exercised  his  power  without  regard  to  right 
or  justice.  The  world  has  no  use  for  any  such 
God.  Human  nature  shudders  to  think  of  such  a 
God.  It  would  be  impossible  to  respect  and  love 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OF   MOSES.  l8l 

such  a  God.  All  the  instincts  of  our  nature  would 
compel  us  to  despise  and  curse  him.  It  is  pre- 
posterous to  suppose  that  the  True  God  can  be 
any  such  kind  of  a  being.  Therefore,  let  him  be 
vindicated  from  all  such  base  aspersions  and 
against  all  false  Gods. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
RELIGION  AND  WORSHIP. 

Now,  I  propose  to  inquire  into  the  origin  of 
religion  and  worship.  Strictly  speaking,  religion 
has  respect  to  nothing  but  worship  of  God.  It 
has  nothing  to  do  with  our  conduct  in  regard  to 
ourselves  or  our  fellow  men.  That  is  a  distinct 
and  different  field.  That  is  confined  to  morals. 
It  is  true  that  the  various  systems  of  religion 
have  adopted  certain  moral  precepts,  mixed  them 
in  with,  and  claimed  them  as  integral  parts  of 
religion  :  that  they  were  originated  by  religion, 
and  that  their  existence  depends  upon  and  is  sus- 
tained by  religion  alone.  This  is  not  the  fact. 
They  are  only  the  sugar  coating  that  makes  re- 


1 82          VINDICATION    OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

ligion  palatable.  Morals  originate  and  spring 
from  an  innate  sense  of  riglit  and  wrong,  which 
is  implanted  within  us  as  a  law  of  our  nature. 
They  are  developed  by  reason,  according  to  the 
exigencies  of  society,  and  are  designed  to  pro- 
mote the  well  being  and  happiness  of  each  indi- 
vidual, and  the  general  good  of  all  in  this  life. 
Therefore  they  respect  only  our  conduct  in  re- 
gard to  ourselves  and  towards  our  fellow  men. 
Whereas,  religion  respects  only  worship  of  God. 
As  it  can  have  no  possible  effect  whatever  with 
or  upon  that  great  being,  or  influence  him  either 
to  do  or  not  to  do  anything,  it  is  neither  required 
nor  desired  by  him.  Therefore  he  has  not  com- 
manded it,  or  revealed,  or  intimated  anything  in 
regard  to  it.  It  is  a  creature  merely  of  the  im- 
agination,— nothing  but  mystic  mythical  myste- 
ries— with  no  actual  knowledge  to  found  it  upon, 
or  reason  to  sustain  it — a  mere  superstition.  When 
priestcraft  tries  to  make  anything  else  out  of  it, 
we  may  know  it  is  wrorking  for  its  own  selfish  ends. 
Religious  organizations  were  originally  devised 
and  formed,  and  are  now  maintained,  for  the  sole 
purpose  and  object  of  giving  place  and  support 
to  priests  and  their  assistants.  That  cunning  class 
has  always  devoted  their  energies  to  perpetuate 
the  craft,  and  make  it  appear  that  their  office  is 
necessary  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  people. 
To  this  end,  and  to  maintain  and  foster  this  be- 


AGAINST  .THK   GOD   OK   MOSKS.  183 

lief,  they  always  exerted  their  ingenuity  to  involve 
and  envelope  the  relations  that  exist  between  God 
and  man  in  Mystic  Mysteries,  which  they  claimed 
to  understand,  but  which  nobody  else  was  per- 
mitted to  know.  They  claimed  to  be  nearer  to 
God,  and  to  have  direct,  personal  communion 
with  him  ;  and  to  receive  personal  advice  and  di- 
rections from  him ;  arid  that  all  the  people  had  to 
do  was  to  believe  what  the  priests  told  them,  have 
confidence  in  their  priests,  rely  upon  and  obey 
them. 

In  modern  times  all  these  Mystic  Mysteries  are 
supposed  to  be  contained  or  concealed  in  certain 
old  writings.  Nobody  knows  when,  where  or  by 
whom  they  were  written.  It  is  all  guess  work. 
One  fact  is  settled.  None  of  them  were  kept  in 
the  Ark,  for  when  Solomon  placed  the  Ark  in  his 
Temple,  there  was  nothing  in  it  but  the  two  tables 
of  stone.  [I  Kings,  viii :  9.]  But  they  contain 
so  much  pretended  knowledge  about  the  creation 
of  the  world  and  of  man — such  remarkable  stories 
about  God  <c  coming  down"  at  different  times, 
and  talking  and  advising  with  man,  and  such  con- 
fident assurances  that  he  had  so  much  more  re- 
gard for  the  enslaved  Israelites  than  he  had  for  all 
the  rest  of  mankind,  that  he  "  came  down,"  and 
employed  and  directed  Moses  to  take  them  out  of 
Egypt,  and  lead  them  to  Canaan;  and  promised 
te  give  them  that  country,  and  to  "cut  off  and 


1 84          VINDICATION   OF   THK   TRUK   GOD 

destroy  "  all  other  people  that  stood  in  the  way, — 
all  which  seemed  so  merciful,  just  and  reasonable, 
and  so  necessarily  characteristic  of  a  just,  wise 
and  true  God,  that  religion  pronounced  and  de- 
clared those  old  writings  to  be  the  veritable  word 
of  God,  literally  true  in  every  particular  ;  but 
mystically  allegorical,  in  some  parts,  so  that  they 
do  not  appear  to  say  just  what  they  mean,  and 
are  not  to  be  understood  as  meaning  just  what  they 
say,  but  require  interpretation  by  persons  whose 
lives  are  devoted  to  that  business,  and  who  con- 
sequently are  divinely  assisted  "to  read  between 
the  lines,"  and  so  enabled  to  formulate  such  dog- 
mas and  doctrines  as  it  is  necessary  for  the  peo- 
ple to  believe,  however  repugnant  to  reason.  In 
this  way,  the  craft  is  sustained,  by  making  it  nec- 
essary to  support  a  priesthood. 

So  the  orthodox  Mahometan  claims  to  believe 
that  the  Koran  existed  from  eternity  ;  that  God 
has  always  kept  the  original,  bound  in  silk,  and 
ornamented  witli  gold  and  precious  jewels,  eter- 
nally, close  by  his  throne;  that  Gabriel  gave  a 
true  copy  of  it  to  Mahomet,  and  allowed  him  to 
see  the  original  once  a  year.  The  Christians 
laugh  and  sneer  at  this  ridiculous  nonsense.  But 
their  doctrine  of  the  divine  inspiration  of  the 
Bible  is  an  exact  parallel  to  it — a  piece  of  the 
same  web  ;  precisely  the  same  kind  of  stuff.  It 
is  like  the  polemic  contest  between  Gymnast  and 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  185 

Captain  Tripet  —  both  supremely  ridiculous,  but 
well  designed  to  sustain  the  cruft  of  priestly  in- 
terpreters. 

In  the  exercise  of  their  office,  the  first  step 
taken  by  the  priests,  and  as  the  foundation  of  the 
whole  building,  was  to  attribute  to  that  ancient 
pagan,  named  Moses,  divine  wisdom,  received 
directly  from  God,  and  a  direct,  constant  per- 
sonal acquaintance  and  intimacy  with  and  knowl- 
edge of  him  ;  while  all  the  writings  themselves, 
and  every  act  of  his  life  that  is  recorded,  clearly 
display  all  the  ignorance  of  his  age  in  regard  to 
creation  and  the  origin  of  man,  and  show  that  he 
was  as  grossly  ignorant  as  other  pagans  of  his 
time,  and  that  he  had  nothing  above  the  most 
ignorant,  childish  and  infinitely  inadequate  idea 
and  conception  of  a  Supreme  Being.  All  his 
talk  about  God,  and  his  descriptions  of  him,  are 
purely  pagan.  He  supposed  and  believed  God 
to  exist  in  the  form,  image,  and  likeness  of  man, 
— with  face,  hands,  feet  and  "  back  parts," 
which  he  pretended  he  was  permitted  to  see,  and 
that  he  was  possessed  of  all  human  frailties. 
This  was  the  idea  and  conception  Moses  had  of 
God.  And  when  we  consider  his  wicked,  cruel 
ambition  (which  is  manifest)  to  conquer  Canaan, 
to  murder,  cut  off  arid  destroy  all  the  inhabitants 
of  that  country  and  steal  their  possessions,  to  as- 
sume or  pretend  that  he,  this  pagan  Moses,  had 


1 86          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

any  better,  higher,  truer,  or  different  idea  and 
conception  or  knowledge  of  God  than  other  pa- 
gans, or  that  he  had  any  personal  intimacy  and 
conversations  with  him,  is  an  insult  to  common 
sense.  And  yet,  such  assumption  and  pretense 
are  the  foundation,  and  all  the  foundation,  there 
is  for  the  Hebraic  and  the  Christian  religions. 

The  True  God  is  too  far  above  us  to  be  influ- 
enced, or  in  the  least  degree  affected,  by  any 
service  we  can  perform  or  any  worship  we  can 
render.  Our  attempts  at  worship  are  as  if  a 
school  of  ants  among  our  sandhills,  should  assem- 
ble on  one  of  their  little  hillocks,  and  attempt  to 
pass  resolutions  complimentary  to  Queen  Vic- 
toria,— only  there  is  infinitely  greater  and  wider 
difference  between  us  and  God  than -there  can  be 
between  those  little  insects  and  the  good  Queen. 
Hence  it  is  wisely  said,  in  one  of  the  best  of 
those  old  writings : 

"If  thou  sinnest,  what  dos't  thou  against 
him?  If  thou  be  righteous,  what  giv'st  thou 
him,  or  what  receiveth  he  of  thy  hand  ?  Thy 
wickedness  may  hurt  a  man  as  thou  art,  and  thy 
righteousness  may  profit  the  son  of  man."  The 
necessary  inference  is,  we  cannot  do  anything 
that  can  at  all  affect  God.  We  can  neither  do 
him  good  or  harm,  or  increase  or  decrease  his 
happiness  or  his  glory.  Hence,  he  neither  re- 
quires or  desires  anything  at  our  hands.  As  our 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF   MOSES,  187 

fellowmen  may  be  benefited  or  injured  by  our  con- 
duct, the  instinctive  moral  principles  implanted  in 
our  nature  clearly  point  out  the  proper  field  for 
ail  human  exertion. 

In  remote  antiquity,  as  our  race  evolved  into 
manhood,  the  various  phenomena  of  nature,  the 
actions  of  the  elements, — the  wind,  hurricane, 
storms,  rain,  hail,  lightning,  thunder,  particularly 
the  innocent  thunder,  because  it  made  such  a 
noise,  earthquakes,  volcanoes,  spouting  fire, 
famines,  failure,  of  crops,  plagues,  pestilence, 
disease  and  death,  which  they  could  not  under- 
stand or  account  for, — appalled  and  terrified  those 
early  ancestors,  and  induced  in  their  childish 
minds,  first  the  emotion  of  fear,  and  then  the 
belief  that  there  must  be  some  great  unseen  being 
or  beings  behind  those  manifestations  that  caused 
and  controlled  them.  Sometimes  they  assigned 
a  different  spirit  to  each  one.  Bye  and  bye  they 
began  to  think  that  perhaps  some  of  those  things 
might  be  sent  as  a  punishment^  for  something  they 
might  have  done  that  displeased  those  unseen 
beings.  Then,  as  children  to  parents,  they  natu- 
rally began  to  pray  and  supplicate  forgiveness. 
Their  prayers  were,  of  course,  thrown  wildly  into 
the  air,  addressed  to  beings  that  had  no  existence, 
except  in  their  childish  imaginations.  After- 
wards, they  resorted  to  kneeling  and  abject  pros- 
trations which  pleased  earthly  rulers,  and,  as  they 


1 88  VINDICATION    OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

reasoned,  could  not  fail  to  please  those  unseen 
beings.  After  a  while,  numbers  combined  in 
these  rude  acts  of  devotion  gave  names  and  at- 
tributed characteristics  to  these  imaginary  spirits. 

In  process  of  time,  some  of  the  more  cunning 
perceived  that  there  was  a  chance  to  make  an 
easy  livelihood  by  leading  in  and  conducting  these 
devotional  exercises  for  the  people,  and  in  their 
place.  Then,  priests,  sorcerers,  soothsayers, 
witches,  seers,  and  prophets  began  to  appear. 
They  imposed  upon  the  people  by  pretending  to 
have  direct  intercourse  and  communications  with 
those  imaginary  beings,  and  to  know  just  what 
would  please  arid  displease  them  ;  and  forms  and 
schemes  were  then  cunningly  contrived  by  them  to 
excite  awe  and  reverence  in  the  artless  minds  of 
the  people.  The  priests,  soothsayers  and  proph- 
ets were  facts,  but  the  gods  were  only  imagin- 
ary. This  is  undoubtedly  the  origin  of  religion 
and  religious  worship.  And  from  these  rude 
originals  have  at  length  evolved  all  the  systems 
and  forms  of  the  present  day.  The  people  have 
from  time  to  time  imagined  gods  of  their  own,  or 
adopted  such  as  others  imagined,  and  shaped  their 
forms  of  worship  to  suit  their  own  fancy. 

In  early  times  the  gods  were  numerous  ;  all 
created  by  the  imagination,  just  as  the  God  of 
Moses  was  created.  The  priests,  prophets, 
witches,  soothsayers  and  sorcerers  multiplied  and, 


AGAINST   THK   GOD   OK  MOSES..  iSg 

imposed  their  false  pretences  on  the  ignorant 
minds  of  the  people,  who  had  been  awed  into  ab- 
ject submission  to  them.  They  pretended  to 
know  all  about  their  gods — to  have  personal  in- 
tercourse with  them  ;  to  receive  messages  and 
directions  from  them,  and  exerted  their  ingenuity 
to  personize  them  and  define  their  attributes.  At 
length,  to  provide  for  their  own  support,  they 
organized  systems  of  sacrifices,  by  which  the  peo- 
ple, taught  to  believe  it  necessary  to  do* something 
to  appease  or  propitiate  their  imaginary  gods, 
were  induced  to  contribute  the  very  best  products 
of  their  labor — corn,  oil,  and  wine,  and  the  best 
of  their  flocks,  beef  and  mutton,  without  spot  or 
blemish — all  theoretically  to  be  sacrificed  and 
destroyed  to  please  their  gods,  but  in  fact  and 
practice  to  support  their  priests.  The  same  plan 
was  adopted  by  Moses,  and  seems  to  have  been 
about  the  same  in  all  other  heathen  communities. 
It  is  well  worthy  of  its  heathen  origin.  For  how 
it  could  be  supposed  that  anjr  intelligent,  reaMy 
existing  being  could  be  pleased  with  such  service 
is  beyond  the  power  of  imagination  to  conceive, 
notwithstanding  it  is  said,  "  The  Lord  smelled  the 
sweet  savor  ''  of  the  meat  that  Noah  cooked  for 
his  entertainment. 

At  the  present  day  this  great  multiplicity  of 
gods  has  been  reduced  to  one,  and  Jews,  Chris- 
tians and  Mahometans  have  all  adopted  the  one 


1 90          VINDICATION   OF  THE   TRUK  GOD 

which  Moses  and  his  ancestors  imagined,  created 
and  worshipped,  in  precisely  the  same  way  that 
all  the  other  imaginary  gods  were  created  and 
worshipped.  He  is  the  same  partial,  jealous,  vain, 
cruel  God,  having  a  human  form,  whose  "  back 

7  O  / 

parts  "  Moses  says  he  was  permitted  to  see,  but 
who  in  fact  had  no  more  real  existence  than  any 
of  the  other  imaginary  gods.  They  have  dropped 
the  ridiculous  system  of  sacrifices,  and  his  wor- 
ship now 'consists  of  fasting,  prayer,  thanksgiv- 
ing and  praise,  addressed  to  the  same  being. 
Through  all  their  creed  there  runs  a  distinct  vein 
of  belief  that  this  God  is  a  most  terrible  being; 
that  he  sits  high  up  in  the  heavens,  watching 
every  word  that  is  spoken,  every  thought  and 
every  action,  ready  to  pounce  down  and  devour 
us  for  the  slightest  fault,  or  keeping  the  score  till 
a  day  of  judgment,  and  then  dooming  us  to  ever- 
lasting torment.  That  for  this  reason  we  must 
live  in  constant  fear,  and  that  our  tremblings 
must  never  cease.  We  need  not  be  alarmed,  how- 
ever, for  that  is  only  an  imaginary  god  ;  the  True 
God  is  no  such  being.  Of  all  beings  in  the  uni- 
verse, he  is  the  last  to  be  afraid  of. 

The  God  of  Moses  seems  to  have  been  well 
adapted  for  the  use  of  scheming  and  designing 
men.  After  he  was  imagined  and  personized, 
Moses  first  introduced  him  to  the  world,  and  used 
him  to  carry  out  his  cruel  and  bloody  scheme. 


AGAINST  THE  GOD  OF  MOSES,  igi 

Then  he  passed  him  to  Joshua,  who  used  him  to 
instigate  and  sanction  his  atrocious  crimes.  From 
that  the  prophets  took  him,  and  pretended  to 
have  private  interviews  with  him^arid  it  is  claimed 
that  he  inspired  many  of  their  mystic  songs. 
Afterwards  Mahomet  used  him  for  his  purposes. 
And  who  can  count  the  number  of  human  beings 
that  were  slain,  or  estimate  the  suffering  that  was 
caused  by  the  fanatics  in  that  cause,  claiming  to 
act  just  as  Moses  and  Joshua  did,  under  the  direct 
orders  and  commandment  of  the  same  God. 
Joseph  Smith  also  took  him,  but  he  used  him 
more  innocently  than  any  of  the  others,  for  under 
Smith  he  did  not  inspire  any  war  or  slaughter. 

The  Christians  took  him,  and  the  holy  Catholic 
Church,  having  full  power  and  control  over  mind 
and  conscience  in  applying  its  principles  and  dog- 
mas, enveloped  the  civilized  world  in  darkness  and 
gloom  for  many  centuries.  When  its  head  was 
crushed,  as  in  the  case  of  the  fabled  Hydra,  an 
increased  number  of  the  same  kind  of  heads  ap- 
peared in  its  place,  and  from  each  of  these  others 
grew  out,  each  one  hissing  some  new  dogma. 

All  sects  and  denominations  have  adopted  the 
same  God,  and  used  him  to  promote  and  support 
some  special  object  or  design.  Each  has  made  a 
little  different  kind  of  an  instrument,  and  now 
compels  this  God  to  play  such  tune  as  suits  it- 
self. Of  course,  all  claim  that  he  is  the  True  God, 


.192          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

and  pretend  to  know  him  personally;  know  all 
about  him  ;  just  exactly  what  he  thinks  about  ev- 
erything, and  what  pleases  and  displeases  him. 
They  assume  that  he  needs  and  requires  their  aid 
and  assistance  ;  that  they  are  employed  by  him, 
and  are  working  for  him,  and  that  their  co-opera- 
tion is  necessary  to  enable  him  to  carry  on  and 
sustain  his  government,  and  to  advance  his  glory. 
And  all  this  is  true  enough  of  the  God  they  have 
adopted.  He  could  not  get  on  without  them.  But 
it  is  not  true  of  the  True  God.  lie  requires  none 
of  their  services. 

But  these  absurd  delusions,  mistaken,  supersti- 
tious notions  and  ideas  of  God,  constituting  what 
is  called  Religion,  first  formed  by  and  proceeding 
from  an  ignorant  and  childish  age,  inspired  and 
promoted  by  priestcraft,  and  imposed  upon  ignor- 
ant people,  from  generation  to  generation,  by  false 
pretences,  have  gained  mastery  and  control  in  the 
world,  and  they  now  override  and  sway  the  in- 
tellect, and  influence  the  actions  of  a  large  part  of 
the  most  intelligent  portions  of  the  human  family. 
These  false  teachings,  in  times  but  recently  passed, 
have  had  their  natural  and  legitimate  effect.  They 
have  caused  more  trouble,  more  crime,  more  suf- 
fering, more  heart-rending  cruelty  and  bloodshed, 
than  all  other  causes  combined.  Cruel  persecu- 
tions, the  inquisition,  the  dungeon,  the  gibbet,  the 
rack,  and  the  faggot,  were  its  adopted  children. 


AGAINST  THK   GOD   OF   MOSES.  193 

Inflamed  passions,  blind  prejudice  and  fanaticism^ 
ignorant  and  groundless  assumptions,  false  pre- 
tences, arrogance,  hatred,  malice,  and  all  unchari- 
tableness,  followed  in  its  train.  These  are  the 
fruits  of  a  superstition  that  has  long  sailed,  and 
still  sails,  under  the  name  of  Religion;  and  the 
world  would  be  a  great  deal  better  off  if  it  had 
never  been  heard  of.  It  all  originated  from  a 
childish  imagination  in  remote  and  grossly  ignor- 
ant times,  and  has  since  been  fostered  and  pro- 
moted by  the  false  pretences  of  false  prophets, 
and  by  priestcraft.  All  kinds  had  the  same  kind 
of  origin,  and  have  been  promoted  in  the  same 
way.  They  are  not  sustained  by  any  real  knowl- 
edge, and  have  no  solid  foundation  in  reason. 
Now  in  Christian  countries  it  is  all  founded  upon 
the  pretences  of  one  man,  educated  as  a  heathen 
priest,  a  heathen  among  heathen,  who  described 
God  as  having  a  human  form,  and  said  that  he  saw 
his  "  back  parts,"  which  assertion  alone  is  suffi- 
cient to  prove  that  he  was  imposing  upon  his  peo- 
ple, and  that  he  \vas  an  impostor. 

As  long  as  it  is  believed  and  taught  that  God 
visited  Moses  and  talked  with  him,  so  long  Ma- 
homets  and  Smiths  and  other  impostors  will  at- 
tempt to  deceive  and  delude  the  world  with  false 
pretences.  And  so  long  as  it  is  believed  and 
taught  that  Jesus  rose  from  the  dead,  and  that  he 
will  again  appear  on  earth,  so  long  we  will  from 


194          VINDICATION   OF  THE  TRUE   GOD 

time  to  time  hear  of  his  arrival  in  the  person  of 
some  religious  fanatic;  and  so  long  false  prophets 
will  appear  to  frighten  the  ignorant  by  fixing  the 
day  that  the  world  will  come  to  an  end.  Such 
doctrines  are  the  hotbeds  of  false  Christs,  false 
prophets,  and  every  species  of  fanaticism. 

A  belief  without  any  knowledge,  proof  or  rea- 
son in  the  existence  of  invisible  beings,  whether 
one  or  more,  that  exercise  power  and  influence 
over  human  beings  and  interfere  in  human  affairs, 
is  the  common  origin  of  sorcery,  witchcraft,  relig- 
ion and  all  religious  dogmas,  tenets  and  pretences. 
They  all  had  the  same  origin,  and  have  the  same 
general  characteristics,  and  one  is  just  as  well 
founded  in  reason  and  is  just  as  true  as  another. 
This  belief  is  a  kind  of  mental  disease.  It  comes, 
prevails,  and  attacks  all  sorts  and  conditions  of 
men,  indiscriminately,  like  a  fatal  pestilence,  and 
has  done  so  in  all  ages.  Intellect,  intelligence 
and  reason  are  no  preventives  or  protection.  The 
great,  the  wise,  and  the  good  are  just  as  liable  to 
its  attacks  as  the  ignorant  and  vulgar.  All  are 
carried  away  with  it. 

The  stories  of  the  magicians  and  sorcerers  of 
Egypt,  related  by  Moses  as  no  new  thing  in  his 
time,  and  the  witch  of  Endor,  argue  great  antiquity 
for  that  species  of  development.  So  called  proph- 
ets were  plenty  in  the  days  of  Saul,  and  he  was 
counted  as  one  himself,  and  yet  he  believed  that 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  195 

the  witch  of  Endor  could  obtain  more  reliable  in- 
formation for  him  than  the  prophets  could,  or  he 
would  not  have  gone  to  her  ;  and,  if  the  story  is 
true,  she  could.  The  magicians  and  sorcerers  of 
Egypt  called  by  Pharoah  were  able  to  compete 
in  many  things  with  the  sorceries  of  Moses, 
although  (if  he  is  to  be  believed)  in  the  end  he 
proved  to  be  the  most  skillful.  All  this  class  of 
pretenders  was  patronized  by  royalty,  which 
proves  that  they  had  for  a  long  time  been  believed 
in  by  the  people.  Of  course,  their  pranks  were 
all  delusions,  devised  and  contrived  by  cunning 
and  designing  men  and  women  to  take  advantage 
of  and  use  the  current  belief  of  the  people  for 
their  own  profit.  In  doing  so  it  was  necessary 
to  pretend  that  they  knew  and  were  on  most  inti- 
mate and  familiar  terms  of  friendship  with  the 
spirits  they  represented. 

The  only  difference  between  them  and  the 
prophets  is,  the  prophets  assumed  the  distinctive 
name  of  prophets,  and  in  their  divinations  used 
only  the  God  which  Moses  imagined  and  imposed 
on  his  people,  the  "  back  parts  "  of  which  lie  said 
he  saw.  But  they  used  the  same  kind  of  decep- 
tion in  pretending  that  they  were  on  terms  of  fa- 
miliar intimacy  with  him,  and  were  honored  with 
visits  and  direct  communications  from  him.  It  is 
evident  that  the  spirits  used  by  the  witches  and 
sorcerers,  and  their  divinations,  were  as  firmly 


196          VINDICATION   OF   THK  TRUE   GOD 

believed  in  by  the  people  at  that  time  as  those  of 
the  prophets,  and  they  were  undoubtedly  just  as 
true.  Kings,  nobles,  and  mighty  rulers  believed 
them  as  heartily  as  the  pretences  of  Moses  have 
since  been  believed.  They  all  rest  on  the  same 
foundation,  and  are  on  the  same  level.  The  only 
reason  why  the  prophets  inspired  such  severe 
laws  against  witches  was,  because  they  were  jeal- 
ous, as  their  God  was,  of  all  other  gods. 

Prophets,  sorcerers  and  witches  have  all  exert- 
ed their  skill  and  cunning  by  their  divinations, — 
some  to  make  money,  and  others  to  promote  some 
other  objects,  and  they  have  had  the  address  to 
deceive  and  delude  multitudes  of  worthy  people 
in  all  ages.  They  have  enticed  into  their  net  not 
only  the  low,  ignorant  and  vulgar,  but  millions  of 
the  highest,  noblest,  wisest  and  best  of  mankind. 
And  it  is  all  founded  primarily  on  a  belief  that 
some  invisible  being  or  beings  exist,  that  exercise 
control  and  interfere  in  human  affairs.  But  there 
is  not  the  slightest  evidence  in  the  world  that  such 
is  the  fact. 

All  the  sacrifices  and  prayers  of  the  Hebrews 
did  not  secure  their  occupancy  of  the  land  which, 
it  was  said,  God  sware  unto  them  for  u  an  ever- 
lasting possession,''  or  save  Jerusalem.  Nor  can 
it  be  shown  that  any  or  all  the  prayers  of  the 
hundreds  of  millions  of  Christians  that  have  been 
poured  out  for  almost  nineteen  centuries,  any 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  197 

more  than  all  the  prayers  of  the  ignorant  heathen 
since  the  first  man  appeared  on  the  earth,  have 
ever  had  the  slightest  influence  or  effect  upon  any 
invisible  being.  The  prayers  and  worship  of  Hot- 
tentots and  all  pagan  idolators  have  been  as  much 
and  as  really  noticed,  recognized  and  answered 
as  those  of  Hebrews,  Christians,  or  Mohamme- 
dans. They  have  all  feigned  to  believe  that  they 
were  heard  and  answered,  and  that  their  various 
modes  of  worship  were  pleasing  to  the  being  or 
beings  addressed.  But  in  no  single  instance  can 
it  be  fairly  proved  that  any  invisible  being  has 
ever  answered  or  noticed  any  prayer,  or  mani- 
fested any  sign  of  being  either  pleased  or  dis- 
pleased with  any  form  or  mode  of  worship.  No 
partiality  has  ever  been  shown  or  indicated.  All 
have  been  treated  alike, — the  Hottentot  equally 
as  well  as  the  Christian, — and  that  is,  with  abso- 
lute silence  and  inattention.  This  ought  to  be 
considered  as  conclusive  evidence  that  prayer 
and  worship  are  vain  and  useless.  There  is  nothing 
in  them.  There  is  no  foundation  or  reason  for 
them,  except  to  support  priesthoods.  They  are 
a  mere  relic  of  the  superstitions  of  a  very  re- 
mote, ignorant,  and  childish  age,  and  as  now 
practiced  are  simply  a  huge  joke.  As  soon  as  it 
was  known  that  the  Czar  of  Russia  was  sick,  all 
Europe  fell  on  its  knees  and  prayed  for  his  recov- 
ery ;  but  to  what  purpose  ?  God's  work  went 
on  just  the  same,  utterly  regardless  of  them. 


I9§  VINDICATION   OF   TH£   TRUE   GOD 

As  God  has  thus  shown  that  the  time  and 
energy  that  are  spent  in  prayer  and  acts  of  de- 
votion to  him  personally  are  all  thrown  away, 
wholly  disregarded  by  him,  and  at  the  same  time 
has  opened  plainly  to  our  view  a  broad  field  where 
they  may  be  employed  with  great  and  beneficial 
results,  it  is  clear  that  his  design  was  that  they 
should  be  so  exclusively  employed,  and  that  is  to 
promote  the  welfare,  comfort  and  happiness  of 
our  fellow  men  in  this  life,  leaving  the  future 
entirely  to  him  who  alone  knows  anything  about 
it. 

As  the  first  step  toward  such  a  result,  we  should 
discard  and  abandon  all  ideas  of  the  manhood  of 
God,  which  is  the  height  and  depth  of  ridiculous 
absurdity,  and  has  done  more  than  anything  else 
to  enthral  the  human  mind  with  mystic  darkness: 
for  God  is  no  such  kind  of  a  being  as  Moses  and 
his  followers  have  supposed  him  to  be.  He  is  not 
in  the  image  and  likeness  of  man,  and  has  none  of 
man's  frailties.  Then  let  the  churches  that  are 
now  devoted  to  ^useless  service  be  converted  into 
temples  of  learning,  where  the  "  toiling  millions" 
may  learn  something  that  is  useful  or  pleasing  to 
know  ;  and  let  all  priests  and  ministers  devote 
themselves  to  this  business,  instead  of  harping 
upon  Mythical  Mysteries,  which  are  of  no  conse- 
quence to  mankind.  Let  holidays,  as  often  as 
one  in  seven,  be  established,  and  strictly  guarded 
by  law  against  unnecessary  labor. 


AGAINST  THK   GOD   OF   MOSES.  199 

There  is  a  disposition  and  a  great  effort  on  the 
part  of  Religionists  to  have  the  present  Christian 
Sunday  kept  and  observed  in  the  same  strict  and 
lugubrious  manner  that  the  old  Pharisees  were 
supposed  to  regard  their  Sabbath, — as  a  day  for 
the  keeping  of  which  man  was  created.  Against 
such  views  and  practice,  the  good  Jesus  uttered 
one  of  his  most  pointed  and  earnest  reproofs,  when 
he  said:  "  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  and 
not  man  for  the  Sabbath."  It  is  quite  easy  to 
understand  what  this  means.  The  present  Sunday 
is  not  the  Mosaic  Sabbath,  nor  was  it  ever  de- 
signed, authorized  or  intended  to  be  substituted 
in  the  place  of  it.  It  is  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
not  the  seventh, — a  different  day  altogether.  The 
disciples,  after  the  crucifixion,  without  any  spe- 
cial design,  held  meetings  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week,  as  they  had  previously  been  accustomed  to 
do  ;  and  it  gradually  ripened  into  a  custom.  They 
afterwards  preferred  a  week  day  instead  of  the 
seventh  for  their  meeting,  to  show  their  contempt 
or  disregard  for  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  which  they 
claimed  to  have  passed  away  with  all  other  cere- 
monials. It  was  nob  selected  because  it  was  sup- 
posed the  resurrection  occurred  on  that  day — that 
was  a  mere  coincidence  and  they  never  attached 
any  particular  sanctity  to  the  day.  The  early 
Church  continuedtthe  custom  of  holding  meetings 
on  that  day.  They  had  some  religious  exercises 


2OO          VINDICATION   OF   THK   TRUK   GOD 

in  the  morning,  but  kept  the  rest  of  the  day  as 
what  is  now  generally  understood  to  mean  a  holi- 
day, a  day  for  feasting,  social  visiting  and  amuse- 
ment. And  we  will  search  the  New  Testament 
in  vain  for  any  authority  or  sanction  for  regard- 
ing that  day  or  any  one  day,  even  the  seventh,  as 
more  holy  and  sacred  than  any  other  day.  The 
fact  is,  the  New  Testament  entirely  ignores  any- 
thing like  a  Sabbath,  or  any  particularly  sacred 
day.  On  this  subject  St.  Paul,  who  ought  to  be 
regarded  as  pretty  good  authority,  says,  "  One 
man  estecmeth  one  day  above  another,  another 
esteemcth  every  day  alike.  Let  every  man  be 
fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind."  And  so  he 
leaves  it  for  every  one  to  do  as  he  pleases,  without 
ever  indicating  the  least  preference  for  either  side 
of  the  question.  And  this  is  all  that  is  said  in 
the  New  Testament  on  the  subject.  After  cen- 
turies, some  innovators  advanced  the  idea  that 
Sunday  was  the  Lord's  day,  because  it  waa  sup- 
posed the  resurrection  occurred  on  that  day. 
Upon  this,  superstition  clothed  it  with  special 
sanctity;  but  there  is  no  authority  for  it,  even  in 
the  Bible,  and  no  reason  for  it  anywhere. 

But  it  is  of  great  importance  to  have  holidays, 
the  more  the  better.  But  to  be  of  any  benefit, 
they  should  be  observed  in  some  national  and 
beneficial  way.  They  should  be^  devoted  to  intel- 
lectual entertainments,  mingled  with  amusements, 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  2OI 

diversions,  visiting,  social  gatherings,  and  what- 
ever may  tend  to  rest  the  brain,  lighten  the  heart, 
and  promote  good  fellowship,  good  feeling  and 
brotherly  kindness  among  men.  Also  let  societies 
and  combinations  be  formed,  to  devise  schemes  of 
employment  for  such  as  need  it,  and  at  fair  wages; 
and  to  carefully  watch  over  all  that  are  employed, 
to  see  that  they  are  fairly  treated.  Search  out 
and  correct  all  wrongs,  public  and  private.  Par- 
ticularly guard  against  monopolies,  which  tend 
and  lead  most  inevitably  to  serfdom.  In  fine,  do 
all  that  can  be  done  by  patient,  self-denying, 
earnest,  vigorous  effort  and  exertion  to  elevate, 
even  up,  equalize,  and  improve  the  conditions  of 
men,  and  so  promote  the  well-being,  comfort  and 
happiness  of  all  in  this  life,  and  that  is  the  whole 
duty  of  man. 

It  is  a  common  saying,  that  it  is  our  duty  to 
love  God.  I  scorn  the  use  of  the  word  duty,  in 
connection  with  the  subject.  Duty  implies  service 
performed  as  an  act  of  servile  obedience  to  some 
law  or  commandment  prescribed  by  another  person, 
power  or  being,  whether  one  feels  heartily  in- 
clined to  do  it  or  not.  Love,  like  fear,  hate,  rev- 
erence, etc..  is  a  purely  mental  emotion,  which 
cannot  be  generated,  produced  or  controlled  by 
any  external  law  or  commandment.  Love,  as  an 
act  of  obedience  to  a  commandment,  is  not  love  at 
all.  It  is  destitute  of  the  life  and  soul  of  love, 


202  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

and  of  everything  that  can  render  it  of  any  value. 
Love  that  one  human  being  entertains  for  another 
cannot  be  awakened  by  the  commandment  of  its 
object,  but  only  by  the  worthiness  or  supposed 
worthiness  of  the  object.  Love  of  God  differs 
from  that  which  exists  between  human  beings, 
but  is  based  on  the  same  principle,  and  is  gener- 
ated and  called  into  action  in  the  same  way.  It 
is  a  spontaneous,  involuntary,  mental  emotion  of 
admiration  and  reverence,  caused  and  excited  to 
action  by  his  excellent  greatness  and  his  ineffa- 
ble perfections.  When  Solon  made  laws,  he  pre- 
scribed no  punishment  for  parricide,  because  he 
thought  it  impossible  that  any  human  being 
could  be  guilty  of  such  a  crime.  God  has  enacted 
no  law  or  made  any  commandment  requiring  us 
to  love  him,  thus  showing  that  he  considered  it 
wholly  unnecessary ;  and  that  besides  this  such 
commandment  would  destroy  the  very  essence  of 
love.  He  wisely  trusted  that  the  great  worthiness 
of  his  character  alone  was  sufficient  to  secure  and 
insure  it.  And  this  confidence  was  not  misplaced. 
For  who  can  look  at  the  starry  heavens  at  night, 
or,  by  the  light  of  that  glorious  luminary  that 
makes  the  day,  survey  the  varied  works  and 
wonders  of  creation,  or  turn  his  attention  to  the 
structure  of  his  own  body,  and  the  intellect  that 
inhabits  and  animates  it,  without  experiencing 
irresistible  emotions  of  admiration  and  reverence 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  203 

for  the  great  author  of  all  these  things?  It  is 
impossible  for  human  beings  not  to  love  God. 
And  further,  it  is  impossible  for  human  beings  not 
to  admire  and  love  the  good  Jesus,  divested  of 
all  claim  to  divinity  and  the  working  of  miracles, 
which  superstition  falsely  attributes  to  him,  for 
his  real  true  character  shines  clearly  through  all 
that  frivolous  fustian  a  bright,  pure,  heart-glad- 
dening beacon  light  to  the  whole  human  family. 
"Enemies  of  God  "  is  a  cant  phrase  of  religion- 
ists, and  they  are  profuse  with  their  charges  that 
people  hate  God.  This  all  proceeds  from  an  im- 
agination diseased  by  superstition.  It  is  not  true. 
God  has  no  enemies,  nor  does  any  human  bein^ 
with  ordinary  mental  capacity  hate  him.  Those 
that  make  such  charges  identify  God  with  their 
own  silly  and  absurd  theories  and  dogmas.  With 
them,  those  who  do  not  believe  in  the  divine  in- 
spiration and  the  absolute  literal  inerrency  of  the 
Bible,  as  now  compiled,  hate  God.  Those  who 
do  not  believe  in  Moses  and  the  prophets  hate 
God.  Those  who  do  not  believe  in  the  Immacu- 
late Conception  and  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus 
hate  God.  Those  who  do  not  believe  that  Jesus 
is  God,  which  he  himself  did  not  pretend  to  be, 
hate  him.  Those  who  do  not  believe  that  he  is 
"  a  prayer-hearing  and  prayer-answering  God," 
although  he  never  answered  one,  hate  him.  Those 
who  do  not  believe  that  there  is  a  great  personal 


204          VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

Devil,  a  terrible  Hell,  and  that  God  foreordained 
and  foredoomed  a  large  portion  of  the  human 
family,  thousands  of  years  before  they  were  born, 
to  everlasting  torment,  hate  him.  This  is  all  idola- 
try of  absurd  dogmas  ;  mere  fetichism.  Ministers 
may  preach  it,  and  imagine  they  are  making  a 
profound  impression,  and  religious  enthusiasts  or 
monomaniacs  may  rejoi  (e  in  the  belief  of  it,  but 
the  people  do  not  believe.  Science,  reason,  com- 
mon sense  rebel  against  it.  They  illuminate  the 
mind,  and  that  opens  the  eyes  of  the  people  to  the 
ridiculous  absurdity  of  all  such  teachings.  There 
is  nothing  in  them  that  tends  to  the  betterment 

o 

of  or  any  good  to  society,  and  they  are  now  pass- 
ing and  must  all  pass  away, — be  laid  aside  and 
forgotten  as  effete  delusions. 

o 

It  is  claimed  that  the  world  is  indebted  to  the 
revelations  which  Moses  pretended  to  receive  on 
Mt.  Sinai,  and  the  Christian  religion,  for  all  the 
sound  moral  teachings  and  principles  that  exist 
in  the  world,  and  for  all  the  progress  that  has 
been  made  in  the  condition  of  society  during  the 
last  few  centuries.  Nothing  could  be  further 
from  the  fact.  The  absurd  superstitions  that 
were  from  the  beginning  interwoven  with  and 
adopted  as  an  integral  part  of  the  Christian  Relig- 
ion were  the  prime  cause  of  all  the  darkness  and 
most  of  the  crimes  and  suffering  of  the  dark  ages. 
They  suppressed  mental  development,  promoted 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF   MOSES.  205 

ignorance,  and  were  the  supreme  barrier  and 
obstacle  to  all  improvement.  Religion  always  has 
been  and  still  is  a  heavy  clog  upon  advancement. 
Whatever  is  inconsistent  with  the  absurd  and 
ridiculous  theories  and  stories  of  Moses  has  al- 
ways been  denounced  and  resisted  with  all  the 
fulminations  and  powers  of  all  the  churches.  Only 
about  three  hundred  years  ago  it  was  rank  heresy 
to  believe  that  the  earth  moved,  and  religion  is 
still  shaking  and  quaking  over  the  developments 
of  science.  For  science  has  discovered  the  most 
probable  existence  of  many  millions  of  other 
worlds  of  quite  as  much  importance  as  this ;  that 
this  world  has  existed  many  millions  of  years  ; 
and  that  man  has  lived  upon  it  at  least  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  years,  and  probably  a 
great  deal  longer  instead  of  six  thousand;  and 
moreover,  that  he  was  not  created  in  precisely 
the  same  way  that  Moses  speaks  of,  but  that  he 
has  evolved  from  a  most  infinitesimal  beginning, 
requiring  millions  of  years  to  accomplish.  These 
theories,  so  consonant  with  reason  and  probabil- 
ity, shatter  the  stories  in  Genesis  into  such  flitters 
that  no  mystic  allegory  can  reconcile  them.  They 
would  all  be  suppressed  if  religion  had  the  power 
it  once  had.  But  it  has  not.  It  has  lost  its  power  to 
enthrall  and  fetter  mind,  which  alone  makes  pro- 
gress possible  and  irresistible.  All  progress  and 
improvement  have  resulted  from  and  been  caused 


206  VINDICATION   OF   THE   TRUE   GOD 

and  promoted  by  rebellion  against  Religion,  and 
reason  has  come  out  uppermost  in  the  struggle. 
Mind  is  free,  and  Religion  is  obliged  to  submit. 
The  only  consolation  it  has  left  as  a  last  resort, 
and  to  bolster  up  its  courage  and  sustain  a  priest- 
hood, is  to  hunt  for  allegories. 

In  regard  to  morals,  it  is  a  well  known  histor- 
ical fact  that  there  was  nothing  of  any  value  in 
the  revelations  Moses  pretended  to  receive  on  Mt. 
Sinai  that  was  then  new  to  the  world.  And  after 
his  time,  and  long  before  Christianity  was  thought 
of,  and  without  any  knowledge  of  Moses,  what  is 
to  be  said  of  such  pagans  as  Lycurgus,  Solon, 
Socrates,  Plato,  Pythagoras,  that  "heathen  Chi- 
nee "  Confucius,  Cicero,  Seneca,  and  hundreds  of 
others,  all  heathen  as  they  were,  who  taught  and 
practiced,  and  by  their  lives  elucidated,  all  the 
great  moral  principles  ?  And  how  do  they  com- 
pare on  that  subject  with  the  strictest  Hebrews, 
or  the  loud-boasting  Christians  ? 

But  although  Christians  theoretically  adopt  and 
approve  of  the  prevailing  system  of  morals,  they 
have  never  been  remarkably  distinguished  for  the 
practice  of  them.  Christianity  has  never  consid- 
ered the  keeping  and  observance  of  the  moral 
laws  as  of  vital  importance.  Violations  of  them 
are  mere  peccadillos,  easily  remedied  by  a  little 
repentance,  fasting,  living  a  few  days  on  bread 
and  water,  or  abstaining  from  a  meat  diet ;  or, 


AGAINST  THE   GOD   OF  MOSES.  207 

what  is  still  more  effective,  paying  a  little  money 
to  the  Church.  They  do  not  affect  Religion. 
The  chief,  principal,  paramount  object  and  prov- 
ince of  Religion  is,  and  always  has  been,  to  in- 
culcate, promote,  produce  and  secure  a  blind, 
superstitious  belief  of,  and  a  kind  of  fetich  rev- 
erence for,  certain  Mystic,  Mythical,  Mysterious 
dogmas  and  doctrines,  that  cannot  be  proved 
or  understood,  combined  with  some  abject  devo- 
tional exercises.  This  belief,  which  cannot  be  dig- 
nified into  a  virtue,  is  the  sina  qua  non}  the  one 
and  only  thing  needful  for  Religion.  This  marks 
the  distinction  and  difference  between  morals  and 
Religion.  Morals  are  founded  in  and  supported 
by  reason,  and  are  of  the  chiefest  arid  utmost 
importance,  for  the  well  being  of  society,  but  are 
considered  by  religionists  of  secondary  and  trifling 
importance  compared  with  this  religious  belief. 
An  upright,  moral  life,  the  highest  development 
of  all  the  moral  virtues,  without  this  fetich  be- 
lief, is  of  no  weight  or  consequence  in  the  eye  of 
Religion.  It  will  not  save.  u  There  is  no  relish 
of  salvation  in  it,"  no  saving  grace  connected 
with  it. 

The  requirements  of  Religion  have  varied 
from  time  to  time  in  different  ages,  and  been 
formed  and  transformed  into  different  shapes  by 
different  people.  In  whatever  form  it  exists,  it 
is  only  a  relic  or  remodeling  of  the  superstitions 


208          VINDICATION   OF   THK   TRUE   GOD 

of  remote  antiquity.  Among  Christians,  Relig- 
ion now  consists  principally  of  a  belief  that  God 
interferes  in  human  affairs,  that  the  Bible  is  the 
inspired  word  of  God,  and  is  literally  true  in  all  its 
parts,  as  now  compiled ;  a  belief  in  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  the  Immaculate  Conception,  the  Res- 
urrection of  Jesus  from  the  dead,  that  Jesus  is 
God,  a  personal  devil,  and  the  everlasting  tor- 
ment of  unbelievers  in  a  terrible  hell.  Of  what 
benefit  is  a  belief  in  such  stuff  to  mankind  ?  But 
a  belief  of  these  dogmas,  which  nobody  knows,  or 
can  possibly  know  anything  about,  but  most  of 
which  are  absolutely  absurd  and  ridiculous,  alone 
constitutes  the  soul  and  body,  substance  and  mar- 
row, of  the  Christian  Religion.  It  never  origi- 
nated, elicited,  or  enforced  any  great  moral  prin- 
ciple of  action  as  between  man  and  man.  On 
the  contrary,  it  tends  to  produce  laxity  in  morals, 
for  the  reason  that  that  Religious  belief  is  re- 
garded of  so  much  more  consequence,  and  as  the 
only  thing  that  is  of  vital  importance  and  neces- 
sary to  salvation,  while  all  merely  moral  derelic- 
tions are  easily  smoothed  over  with  some  trifling 
penance. 

This  matter  has  been  thoroughly  investigated 
and  tested  (and  by  religious  people,  too,)  in  a  large 
community  consisting  of  many  that  professed  re- 
ligion, and  many  who  had  no  religion,  including 
so-called  infidels  of  all  grades  ;  and  it  was  found, 


AGAINST  THiO   GOD   OF   MOSKS.  209 

to  their  chagrin,  that  taking  an  equal  number 
indiscriminately  as  they  happened  to  come  from 
each  class,  for  general  character  and  standing  in 
community,  for  benevolence,  charity,  good  deeds, 
good  deportment,  honorable  dealing,  and  all  the 
peculiar  qualities  that  make  a  good  and  worthy 
citizen,  those  that  had  no  Religion  were  far  the 
superior.  Such  is  the  natural  and  necessary  con- 
sequence of  elevating  such  a  superstitious  and 
ridiculous  belief  into  a  position  of  such  supreme 
and  vital  importance,  while  morals,  everything 
that  pertains  to  the  welfare  of  man  in  his  present 
state,  are  degraded  into  matters  of  comparative- 
ly trifling  importance,  violations  of  which  are 
only  venial  faults,  mere  peccadillos,  that  may  be 
easily  atoned  and  expiated.  Under  the  influence 
of  such  teachings  the  true  believer  may,  as  has 
heretofore  been  abundantly  proved,  contemplate 
and  deliberately  commit  any  crime,  however  hor- 
rible and  revolting,  with  the  perfect  confidence 
and  assurance  that,  with  a  little  subsequent  re- 
pentance, the  blood  of  Jesus  will  eradicate  and 
obliterate  all  the  stain.  Believe,  believe,  only  be- 
lieve and  ye  shall  be  saved,  whatever  else  ye  may 
do.  That  is  Christianity,  Mankind  has  no  need 
or  any  use  for  anything  of  the  kind. 

It  is  high  time,  therefore,  that  the  True  God 
should  be  vindicated  against  this  God  of  Moses 
and  all  other  imaginary  and  false  gods  created 


2IO  VINDICATION    OF    THE    TRUK    GOD 

and  set  up  by  designing  men  to  deceive  the  world. 
Saturn,  Jupiter,  Osiris,  and  thousands  of  others 
once  firmly  believed  in  by  just  as  good  and  wise 
men  as  now  live,  have  long  since  been  buried  in 
mythological  story.  The  God  of  Moses  is  of  the 
same  kind,  was  created  in  the  same  way,  no  better 
than  the  others,  belongs  with  them  and  must  go 
with  them.  And  all  the  absurd  dogmas,  doctrines 
and  systems  that  have  been  founded  and  built 
upon  a  belief  in  him  must  also  pass  away, — be 
cast  aside  and  mingled  with  the  rubbish  of  antique 
delusions.  And  they  are  fast  going.  Science, 
reason,  intelligence  and  common  sense  have  all 
conspired  and  risen  in  rebellion  against  them,  and 
they  must  go.  For  a  little  while  longer  Chris- 
tians ma}'  be  deluded  with  the  idea  of  a  "  second 
coming  "  that  will  never  be  realized.  The  earliest 
believers  felt  sure  that  there  were  then  living 
many  who  would  live  to  see  "  Jesus  coming  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and  great  glory." 
Nearly  nineteen  hundred  years  have  since  rolled 
by, and  as  yet  there  are  no  signs  of  such  an  event. 
Such  delusions  may  last  for  a  while  longer,  for 
of  all  enemies  to  the  progress  of  our  race  super- 
stition is  the  worst  and  hardest  to  fight,  and  the 
last  to  yield. 

Bat  all  the  elements  of  the  nature  which  God 
has  implanted  in  us,  and  all  the  circumstances 
with  which  he  has  surrounded  us,  while  keeping 


AGAINST   THE   GOD   OF   MOSBS.  211 

himself  personally  and  the  future  entirely  con- 
cealed  from  us,  most  clearly  mark,  point  out  and 
define  our  proper  and  appropriate  sphere  of  duty 
and  field  of  action.  It  is  all  limited  and  confined 
to  this  life  and  our  own  race.  This  field  is  par- 
ticularly adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  Charity, 
for  which  there  is  a  broad  market  and  a  large 
demand,  and  diligent  employment  in  it,  limits  the 
whole  duty  of  man. 

Therefore,  laying  aside  all  attempts  to  pry  into 
the  future,  or  impiously  to  encroach  and  trespass 
upon  the  grounds  that  God,  doubtless  for  wise 
reasons,  has  chosen  so  effectually  to  close  against 
us,  trusting  that  he  is  competent  and  fully  able  to 
carry  on  his  own  government,  without  any  aid  or 
assistance  from  us,  and  having  the  field  for  hu- 
man exertion  so  clearly  opened  and  spread  out 
before  us,  and  our  duties  so  clearly  pointed  out 
and  defined,  let  all  rally  under  the  broad,  stream- 
ing banner  of  CHARITY,  and  join  heart  and  hand 
in  patient,  persevering,  self-denying,  and  vigorous 
exertion,  to  elevate,  even  up,  equalize  and  im- 
prove the  conditions  of  men,  and  to  promote  the 
wellbeing,  comfort  and  happiness  of  all  in  this 
life,  and  leave  all  else  to  God. 

Whether  there  be  any  conscious  existence  for 
man  after  this  life,  or  whether  the  soul,  with  the 
death  of  the  body,  at  once  vanishes  into  nothing- 
ness, like  the  extinguished  flame  of  a  lamp,  it  is 


212  VINDICATION    OF    THE   TRUK   GOD 

not  given  us  to  know.  We  must  recognize  the 
existence  of  a  "  bourn  from  whence  no  traveler 
returns,"  and  from  whence  no  knowledge  ever 
came  to  man.  All  beyond  is  a  most  profound 
secret, concealed  in  the  bosom  of  God  alone.  But 
although  mortal  eyes  are  not  permitted  to  pen- 
etrate the  veil  that  obscures  the  great  Beyond, 
still 

"  This  pleasing  hope,  this  fond  desire, 
This  longing  after  immortality  " 

which  stir  within  us  may  be  the  true  premonitors 
of  our  future  destiny.  Reason  and  philosophy 
encourage  the  hope.  It  may  be,  as  soon  as  the 
grim  messenger  takes  this  "  mortal  coil "  to  his 
gloomy  mansions,  that  the  soul  at  once  awakens 
to  a  new  existence,  and  freed  from  all  earthly 
entanglements  is  ineffably  delighted  with  a  per- 
sonal acquaintance  with  God,  and  a  better  and 
eternally  increasing  knowledge  of  his  works  and 
ways.  This  is  and  can  be  known  only  to  God 
himself,  and  it  is  vain  for  us  to  try  to  fathom  the 
secret.  Our  sphere,  and  the  only  field  in  which 
we  can  labor  to  any  purpose,  is  limited  to  our 
present  state  and  our  own  race.  But  with  all  our 
duties  to  ourselves  and  towards  our  fellow  men 
fully  and  faithfully  performed  in  this  life,  Hope 
may  plume  her  wings  to  soar  above  the  bounds 
of  time,  and  from  a  lofty  eminence  watch  for  the 
dawning  of  a  more  glorious  and  eternal  day. 


